Mauricio Pochettino relays Mason Mount message in first Chelsea press conference
- Mount left Chelsea for Manchester United in a £60m deal
- Pochettino was keen to work with the England international
- The new boss is happy with Chelsea's work this summer
By Tom Gott
New Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has admitted he hopes to quickly move on from Mason Mount's departure to Manchester United.
Mount angered Chelsea fans as he sealed a £60m move to their fierce Premier League rivals, despite Pochettino's desire to keep the Englishman at Stamford Bridge.
Asked whether he had tried to convince Mount to stay, Pochettino did his best to move on from the saga.
"He's a Manchester United player now," he told his first press conference. "For sure, he loved the club. I don't know what happened in the past and I don't want to talk about that.
"I think we need to focus on what we expect from our players, the players that really commit to the club, to move on and to try to build a very nice story."
Pochettino went on to admit there were 'personal situations' from before his time at the club which he was not aware of but praised Chelsea's leadership team for their work already this summer.
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"I think it is better if I clarify the situation," he began. "When we met for the first time and agreed to start working together on July 1, which was at the end of May, Laurence [Stewart], Paul [Winstanley] and the owners presented their plans for the squad.
"They showed me the transition plan and I agreed, and the club started to work. I didn't. [The club] is doing a fantastic job and I am happy.
"It continues to work in this way, with the plan they created. From now, from July 1, I am more involved. I want to work with them to try and make decisions with Paul and Laurence, to work closely to make decisions for the best of the football club.
"I trust them. I said 'you know better than me', but now they won't take all the decisions. It will be easy to make the best decisions together for Chelsea."
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