Micah Richards says is an ‘outstanding appointment’ and has tipped to ‘take off’ under their new head coach next season.
The Blues are expected to formally announce the arrival of Pochettino imminently with the former boss.
at Stamford Bridge and believe the west London club have made the right appointment.
The Argentine , including a sensational swoop for Spurs star Harry Kane.
He has also and make the Blues title challengers once again .
Richards, though, is backing Pochettino to make a quick impact as he told the : ‘A miserable season for Chelsea will soon be over and I will say this now: it will not be repeated next year.
‘Mauricio Pochettino is an outstanding appointment and will make them competitive.
‘There are some big decisions to make with the squad but he is inheriting talent. They could take off.’
It has been a brutal campaign for Chelsea, with Frank Lampard in charge until the end of the season following the sackings of Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter.
The west Londoners suffered early exits from the domestic cups and are 11th in the Premier League table with three top-flight games left.
They could not save their season in the Champions League either and were eliminated by Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.
Chelsea have spent over £600m on players since the summer when co-owner Todd Boehly took over from Roman Abramovich.
But it a fresh start for them under Pochettino, before agreeing to take the Chelsea job.
