believes will have a ‘very good season next year’ as they prepare to unveil as their new manager.
Pochettino, who has as well as Southampton and Paris Saint-Germain, has .
Chelsea’s owners have been searching for a new manager after sacking Graham Potter earlier in the season and putting Frank Lampard in charge on an interim basis until the end of the campaign.
Pochettino, who has signed a three-year contract to become Chelsea’s sixth permanent manager in five years, will begin his tenure following the Blues’ final game of the season on May 28.
Chelsea have endured a dismal season – slipping to 11th in the Premier League and winning just one game out of eight under Lampard – but Neville believes the Blues can climb up the table under Pochettino.
‘I love Mauricio Pochettino,’ he said on his . ‘I always thought if Chelsea brought in Pochettino and refined the squad a little, they could have a very good season next year.
‘Pochettino will not take a job on if he doesn’t think there’s huge potential there and he obviously thinks he can get Chelsea back of the very top of the league.
‘He did it at and it’s not a too dissimilar situation at Chelsea. Appointing him early and getting him place way before pre-season will bring stability.
‘I think it’s a really good move. I don’t think Chelsea can lose with this appointment, he will make massive improvements straight away.’
The former Manchester United and England defender added: ‘I think Pochettino has been going to Chelsea for three or four weeks and they have been in negotiations for what’s felt like three or four weeks.
‘I don’t think that will have been about his package or his backroom team, I think that will have been about… are you going to buy into what I want to do with this squad?
‘Because he will have looked at them meticulously, Pochettino, and his recruitment people around him and his staff and he will have said, “right, these are the players I want on the bus and these are the players I don’t want on the bus… and you better back me.”
‘I suspect that is where the negotiations have been centred in the last couple of weeks.’
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