Pochettino Demands Improvement From £100m Pair Caicedo And Fernandez

Fernandez and Caicedo commanded transfer fees in excess of £100m when making moves to Stamford Bridge this year, with the Argentine joining from Benfica in January and the Ecuadorian moving from Brighton and Hove Albion in the summer.

But Chelsea have endured a frustrating if not inconsistent start to the 2023/2024 season as they sit in 10th position on the Premier League table.

Having lost 2-1 to Manchester United in midweek, Pochettino reckons it is about time Chelsea found some stability in the middle of the park.

Speaking ahead of Chelsea’s Premier League clash with Everton on Sunday, Pochettino said: “The relationship between them needs to improve of course, between them and individually also.

“They are young, the expectation is massive when you arrive.

“Caicedo had one season in Brighton and Enzo after three months in Europe, he was in Benfica before arriving to the Premier League. Arriving not in the best place to perform quick because they need to be part of the solution.

“They are not the cherry of the cake. When you arrive in a team that is in a building process and you’re young with not too much experience, even if you have good quality and people can see the club paid big money and only for that you need to perform, it is not like this in football.

“Some people think in this way because they don’t know about football. It’s a process.

“It’s going to be a process for different reasons. Chelsea are in a completely different reality in the last years and we need to attack this. We can’t live only thinking in the past.

“We need to keep the culture and understand we are in Chelsea and always it’s about winning, but the reality is completely different.”