Guus Hiddink in a press conference in the Netherlands has revealed that he is set to stay at Chelsea as a consultant in the upcoming season. The Dutchman is inclined in improving the chances of Chelsea’s much-talented pool of young footballers making their way into the first-team after more than 30 players were sent out on loan to several European clubs last season.
Hiddink came in December 2015 after the controversial sacking of Jose Mourinho and stabilised the sinking ship of Chelsea when they were just a point above relegation. The former Netherlands coach then took the London club for a 15-match unbeaten streak which remains as the longest unbeaten streak in the 2015/16 Premier League season.
Chelsea lost out to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in the round of 16 of the Champions League with a 4-2 aggregate score. They also lost out to Everton in the quarter-final of the FA Cup.
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When asked by the media about his future at the club and him taking over as Technical Director at Chelsea, he told Fox Sports: "Technical advisor is a big word, but I will indeed hold an advisory role.”
"You often see that the young players are not always easy to link up with the first team," Hiddink said. "You have to ease them through sparingly, otherwise they can end up burnt out. "I already did that with Bertrand Traore and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, but it needs to happen more often.”
Hiddink did give first-team debuts to academy players including the likes of Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori and Jake Clarke-Salter. He also gave regular first-team minutes to Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Bertrand Traore and Robert Kennedy, which even former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho didn’t do.
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Looking to bring in ex-Chelsea players to the club
The Dutchman also wants to bring back former players like Didier Drogba and Petr Cech back to the club where they have spent considerable time once they have retired.
"I want to involve former Chelsea players. I spoke with Drogba last week; I have spoken with Cech. These guys are true Chelsea legends and have had such an impact at the club.
"Chelsea are an old club, but they have only been there at the highest level for about 15 years or so. These older guys want the best for Chelsea and can do a lot for the club once they have ended their active careers.
"One might go for a commercial career, another might pursue a job as assistant manager and another might be interested in a scouting position. You can make such good use of guys like them. I have the freedom to approach former players for things like that."
Current Italy manager Antonio Conte takes charge at Chelsea after replacing Guus Hiddink as Chelsea head coach at the start of the 2016/17 season. It remains to be seen how the Italian will fare at Chelsea, having not coached a club for two years.
