Mauricio Pochettino warns Chelsea owners: Argentina fans would erupt at multi-club plans

Mauricio Pochettino has warned Chelsea’s owners that they could face more fan fury if they try to add an Argentinian club to their multi-club stable.

Chelsea head coach Pochettino also revealed that he is trying to extend an invite to the club to Argentina’s president Javier Milei, who claimed Chelsea want to buy the former defender’s first club, Newell’s Old Boys, among others in his homeland.

Co-owners Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly have already faced protests from Strasbourg supporters after Chelsea bought a majority stake in their club last summer.

Saturday’s opponents Manchester City have also received criticism from fans of Troyes, who are part of the Premier League champions’ City Football Group stable, and Pochettino thinks Argentine supporters would struggle to accept their clubs becoming part of Chelsea’s BlueCo group.

“It’s so difficult because Argentina is a country where it is not normally like here, where people arrive from outside and buy clubs,” said Pochettino. “The fans, they feel they belong to the club and the club belongs to them, and it’s not easy to change the mentality. Maybe in time, yes, but at the moment I don’t believe it is going to be easy to buy a club there.

“But, of course, the president has new ideas and he wants to help the country and the people to have better lives. It’s a difficult situation, but all the Argentines, we are going to support and we are going to do everything to try to help the country, Argentina, to stay in a better situation.”

Revealing Chelsea’s interest in investing in an Argentine club, president Milei had said: “There is a willingness to invest which has been expressed by Chelsea in the case of wanting to buy Boca, Racing, Newell’s, Lanús and Estudiantes.

“I am a fan of Boca and if investment groups come to Boca and invest a fortune, and that means Boca always wins and River are not able to win a single game, the question is ‘where do I sign?’”

Pochettino, who joined Newell’s Old Boys as a 14-year-old and spent eight years at the club as a player, added: “I want to invite the president of Argentina [to Chelsea]. The other day, we made ‘Argentina Day’ here because we always try to celebrate things and create a nice atmosphere at the training ground. The staff did fantastic in the kitchen and the canteen.

“Our club photographer, Darren, took pictures and now I am sending them to a friend who is a friend of the president to say ‘look Chelsea’. If he’s in London one day, we want to invite him to come here because he loves football.”