Why Mauricio Pochettino has brought in Brighton legend as latest member of his Chelsea team

New Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino is happy to work with a former teammate at Espanyol, Bruno Saltor, as one of his assistants as he embarks on a journey to restore the Blues back to their best.

Bruno Saltor who enjoyed his best playing days at Brighton first came across Pochettino when the pair played at Espanyol. Bruno was with the Espanyol B team and would occasionally be brought in to play with the first team. He and Pochettino played together in some cup games and have stayed in touch since then.

Bruno is a football man and is credited with creating the perfect conditions and a brilliant environment that a team needed when he was captain of Brighton and Hove Albion which eventually led to their first promotion to the Premier League.

He was instrumental as they went from just being promoted to securing survival in their first season in the top flight. Brighton saw the need to keep him and he was a key member of Graham Potter's coaching team that exceeded expectations with the Seagulls, securing them a top-half Premier League finish for the first time in the club’s history.

Described by sources as a “great football man”, Bruno was part of Graham Potter’s assistants at Chelsea last season. He holds the record as the only manager in the club’s recent history never to taste a defeat - when he took charge of the team against Liverpool. The Blues drew that game but he’d done enough to show the owners that he was a good man and Chelsea kept him on the payroll even though they decided Frank Lampard was the man to take charge for the remaining games.

Following his appointment, Pochettino requested that Bruno - who was still attached to Chelsea - join his backroom staff as one of the assistants. It was a request the former Spanish defender happily accepted.

He will now join Jesus Perez, assistant manager and the right-hand man of Pochettino; Miguel D’Agostino, who was once a teammate of Pochettino during his playing days at Newell’s Old Boys in the early 1990s (first team coach); Toni Jimenez (goalkeeping coach) was also Pochettino’s teammate during his second spell at Espanyol; and Sebastiano Pochettino (sports scientist), the manager’s first son as the full backroom staff.

Other members of the coaching team are the long-serving Henrique Hilário, who has played at and stayed at Chelsea since hanging up his gloves, and Ben Roberts who is the head of the goalkeeping department.