Osimhen Arsenal, Chelsea backing Pochettino

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I want to start by discussing the situation of some managers, because after Chelsea’s very bad game against Newcastle on Saturday, I’ve received many questions on the future of Mauricio Pochettino. He described the 4-1 defeat at St James’ Park as his side’s worst performance of the season, and personally I agree that it wasn’t good enough.

Still, all the information I’m getting is that Chelsea decided to go for Pochettino because they feel he is the right man for this project, and they know it’s going to take time. This is something Pochettino is repeating in public but also in private with his conversations with people at the club.

It’s a young team, so they still need to learn and develop – of course everyone at Chelsea wants results as soon as possible, they feel this is a club that has a history of winning trophies and Pochettino is aware of that too, but it takes time. So, despite the bad result against Newcastle, nothing has changed at Chelsea – they still trust Pochettino, so he is not at risk at Stamford Bridge. They will keep trusting the manager – the owners and directors all together.

As I said, however, Chelsea want to see improvement – they are not happy with the same disappointing results, the same mistakes and these kind of things. They want to see a better level, like they saw against Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester City, but with a young team you have to be patient.

I’ve also had questions about Xabi Alonso, because what he’s doing with Bayer Leverkusen is really special. Their numbers this season are incredible – they’ve won all their games apart from one draw, and have scored 62 goals, conceding just 14.

It’s a special team, playing fantastic football, and sitting top of the Bundesliga table and their Europa League group. Alonso is a fantastic manager, and it’s no surprise to see links with other clubs now, though I’m told there is no proper release clause in his contract.

There is nothing official for other clubs to trigger – I’m told it’s just a gentleman’s agreement between Alonso and the Leverkusen board. Alonso was on the list of some clubs this summer, but Leverkusen insisted he was staying, but that they…