Chelsea has chosen the long road to success

Chelsea has spent the last few months rebuilding their team, and Mauricio Pochettino is the man they have tasked with ensuring the current team returns to its best shape.

The Blues are one of England's finest clubs and have spent the last two decades challenging the established sides they met in the division.

Roman Abramovich's millions from the early 2000s launched Chelsea into a new era, and they have continued to remain among the top clubs in the country.

Chelsea's newest owners know they have a huge void to fill after Abramovich was forced to sell the club because Russia invaded Ukraine.

Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital now own the club and are under pressure to maintain the standard that Abramovich had created when he was the club's owner.

The Blues went through three managers last season, which was seen as a transitional period and a learning curve for the new owners.

All three were sacked one after the other before Poch agreed a deal to make him their manager from this campaign.

Some English football fans believe the Argentinian is the most overrated manager in the Premier League because of his trophyless spell on the bench of Tottenham and his struggles to impress when he managed PSG.

However, Poch is undeniably a good coach for young players like the individuals at Chelsea at the moment.

Chelsea's transfer approach.

The Blues' new owners came from America, where soccer is not a popular sport, and they have a long way to go in understanding how to find success in the English game.

Their approach to transfers is very different from the one that brought success to the club under Abramovich.

Chelsea had splashed the cash on a successful coach and established players when the Russian came to town.

The likes of Jose Mourinho, Didier Drogba and Michael Essien joined the club immediately to make it one of the strongest sides in the world and they stormed to success in England.

However, the current owners have taken a longer road to success and have invested in youngsters who they believe can become global superstars.

The Americans offered these players long-term deals, with some signing contracts until 2031.

This secures the future of these players in the long term, but does it guarantee that those who buy Chelsea tickets will be handed success?

Chelsea has the youngest squad in the Premier League, which puts them in a poor position by the league's standards.

In Europe, in general, youngsters can excite your fans and win some games for you, but they will hardly win you trophies.

The Blues have made signings that make sense in the long-term, but there is no fixed time for them to bring success and their players could all turn out to be flops.

The Mauricio Pochettino conundrum

Pochettino spent five years as the manager of Tottenham and was expected to help the Lilywhites become a successful team in England.

He had Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Son Heung-min and several other talented players, but Tottenham only reached the final of the League Cup in 2015 and the Champions League final in 2019.

Making him the manager of Chelsea does not show that the Blues' new owners wanted a manager who can win trophies.

The experienced and successful Thomas Tuchel was the club's boss when they bought the team and had already stamped his authority on the side.

Yet Chelsea sacked the German for reasons still unknown and replaced him with a Poch that achieved just a 65.48% win rate at the biggest club in France, PSG.

Poch is one of the best managers in Europe on paper, but he does not have enough experience in winning trophies to help Chelsea achieve success sooner.

For a team that has become accustomed to winning, Chelsea supporters will soon call for him to be sacked if the team keeps struggling.

Competition from Rivals

There has hardly been a more competitive time in English football than we have seen in the last two terms.

Cash influx and club owners willing to spend money on their team means the likes of Newcastle United and Aston Villa are a new threat to the established top seven in the league.

Last term, Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea all missed out on a Champions League spot, with the Reds managing to secure a Europa League spot, while the other two English giants failed to qualify for all European competitions.

Brighton and Aston Villa secured European spots, while Newcastle United finished inside the Premier League's top four for the first time in decades.

Chelsea's first goal is to make the top four, but it is very hard to see them achieve this as soon as their fans want it to happen.

The Blues were the biggest club in the country, but they are not even the top club in London after Arsenal's recent resurgence as one of the big teams in town.

The Gunners and Tottenham are having a good season and look far more prepared to make the top four or even win the league than Chelsea is.

Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United are also ahead of the Blues in terms of team development.

Poch has another chance to find success as a manager, and he knows he will hardly get another big job if he flops at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea fans can be sure of getting exciting football, especially because most of their players are very talented youngsters, but there is a small chance that the team will win a trophy soon.

The best Chelsea signing so far

One of the most difficult things for Chelsea fans to do is to pick out their best player now or in the last year.

The team has seen so many new signings come through the door, and supporters have been watching underwhelming performances from the team in the last year.

This term has just begun, but other clubs have seen one or more players step up to show they could be their best player when the term ends, but that is hardly the case for Chelsea.

The Blues signed at least 13 players in the last transfer window, including Axel Disasi, Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Cole Palmer, and Christopher Nkuku, among others.

These players come to the London club with good reputations but are notably just at the start of their careers.

Chelsea wanted to catch them young and acted fast to bag some of these players before other suitors signed them.

There is so much time on their hands to shine, but there has been no outstanding contributor among their summer signings so far.

Palmer has been impressive in the last few weeks, while Moises Caicedo is beginning to hold the midfield down and bond well with Enzo Fernandez.

This is making the Blues fans dream of an ideal season, but Chelsea is far from ready to win a trophy or the league.

The Blues can end this season inside the top four, but they clearly are not at the level where they can win the league.

Even making the top four will take so much from them as a team, so their supporters must be very patient with the group and continue to support it unwaveringly.

If this happens, the Blues could end this term well and set themselves up to do even better in the 2024/2025 season.