Guus Hiddink Warns New Manager: Rebuilding Chelsea Will not be a Small Job
Chelsea interim boss Guus Hiddink believe the next Chelsea boss will face a huge rebuilding task to return the club to its glory.
Hiddink, who admired Paris Saint-Germain’s squad during their Champions League fifth round fixture, revealed that the Blues are not operating on same level as Europe elite and require a rebuild in the summer to be able to challenge Europe’s best teams.
The Dutchman believes that the west London club has lost their glory alongside Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Although rebuilding Chelsea will not be his concern as he leaves this summer, Hiddink said it would not be a “small job” to prepare the Stamford Bridge outfit for trophies again.
“It’s not a small job,” he said of the new manager’s task.
“I don’t want to open up too much but everyone has to make good analysis about the strength of the squad, about the weakness of the squad, and accordingly they have to react in building up, or making the squad stronger for next season. That’s not a small job.
“I don’t want to go into details. I am here in the interim period and the people who are not responsible for the every day, every week stuff and games, they have the longer vision of what is the need of this club, they are in charge to do that.”
Chelsea has been known not to give younger players enough chances (especially under Jose Mourinho), and Hiddink has said he would prefer to have Chelsea youngster involved more.
“You see the potential of those clubs, it’s huge. To be honest, if you see PSG, they have a very strong, not just first 11, but can go on to 15, 16, 17 big players,” he explained.
“We had some youngsters on the bench against PSG. I am not scared to bring them in but in the long run of a lot of games, you need a bench which is also very experienced.”
Although Hiddink said that experience should be a key concern when signing new players, he didn’t comment on the key positions and number of players Chelsea should sign to bolster their squad.
The Dutchman also insisted it was not his responsibility to get involved in the clubs future, and leaves the whole rebuilding task to another manager.
“I am here in an interim period,” he said.
“The people who are not responsible for having to prepare every week’s game, who have the longer vision of the needs of the club, they are in charge to do so. I will not walk on before their actions.”