Ben Chilwell has opened up on the mood within Chelsea’s dressing room after Mauricio Pochettino departed as manager by ‘mutual consent’ last week.
The Argentine’s exit came following an internal end-of-season review, led by the Blues’ sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, along with co-controlling owner Behdad Eghbali, with the club’s hierarchy deciding to go in a different direction.
This was despite a strong end to the campaign for the Blues after Pochettino guided them to five successive wins to qualify for Europe, while he had also overseen the development of several young stars such as Cole Palmer, Malo Gusto and Noni Madueke.
Meanwhile, Pochettino still had a year to run on his contract and provided some form of stability following a tumultuous period at Stamford Bridge.
And, Chilwell revealed he was surprised to see the former Tottenham boss leave, but felt Pochettino had put a good structure in place for Chelsea’s next manager to build upon.
Ben Chilwell has opened up on the mood at Chelsea after Mauricio Pochettino’s departure
Chilwell admitted he was ‘surprised’ at Pochettino’s exit, but felt the club was in a good place
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‘Yeah, you know it was a surprise,’ he told Sky Sports at the Monaco Grand Prix, where the defender was seen with former Blues star Mason Mount.
‘I think with the end of the season and how well the team did it was definitely a surprise, but you know, good luck to him wherever he goes moving forward.
‘And we have got to look forward now as a club. I am not going to look into the speculation of who might come in but whoever does come in I’m sure it will go well and we can push on next season.’
After many ups and downs, Chelsea finally picked up some consistency towards the back end of the campaign, as the Blues lost one of their last 15 league games.
This meant the club finished sixth, although Man United’s FA Cup triumph on Saturday means Chelsea will play in the Europa Conference League next season rather than the Europa League.
Despite this setback, Chilwell hailed the performance of his team-mates during the run-in and felt they had silenced some of their doubters.
He added: ‘I think you can kind of tell on the pitch the atmosphere has been brilliant, the togetherness. I think the questions were always to do with if we could do it every week.
‘And towards the back end of the season, you saw that the team really gelled together and it was brilliant to watch.’
Although the campaign ended well on a collective level, Chilwell was beset by injuries throughout, with the left back making just nine league starts.
Chilwell was speaking at the Monaco Grand Prix, where he was alongside Mason Mount
Chilwell also opened up on his England snub and said he was trying to look at it positively
It meant he missed out on a place in England’s provisional 33-man squad for Euro 2024 despite the absence of any fit left backs, with Luke Shaw in a race against time to prove he will be ready for this summer’s tournament.
However, Chilwell refused to be downbeat and tried to look at the positives that his snub could bring.
‘Yeah, I think exactly you have got to try and take the silver linings with everything,’ he said.
‘I think this will be a good opportunity for me to get a break. It’s not often you get to have a long break so if you look at it in that respect it will be nice to have a break, get recharged and go again next season.’
