Chelsea have finalized the appointment of Bernardo Cueva from Brentford, to become the Blues set-piece coach.
Cueva will still be with the Bees until the remainder of the campaign, working alongside Thomas Frank.
Chelsea will have to part with a compensation fee to Brentford, expected to be within the region of £750,000 to £1,000,000 for Bernardo Cueva.
The Stamford Bridge side have since been without a dead ball specialist coach since Anthony Barry exited the club alongside Thomas Tuchel.
Cueva is a first-team coach at Brentford, who works closely with Frank to better the club's output from set-pieces.
Bernardo Cueva became known when he was an analyst for Mexican side Club Deportivo Guadalajara.
The tactician departed Mexico for a role at Brentford in July 2020, and about a year into his time as set-piece coach of the London club, he was also given a similar role with the Norwegian men's national team.
In the 2022/23 season, only Liverpool (17) scored more goals in the Premier League from set-pieces than the Bees (16), with the exclusion of penalties. Interestingly, seven of those Brentford's goals were netted by Ivan Toney.
Tottenham Hotspur scored 16 goals from set-pieces, while Arsenal recorded 15.
Toney's tally was just one less than the entire goals Chelsea scored from set-pieces last season (8), with the Blues also scoring just 7 goals so far this term.
Several managers have voiced out their thoughts on Bernardo Cueva, with some not complementary, while others are full of admiration for the Mexican.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp isn't much of a fan of Cueva, having previously watered down the impact of the job on the field of play.
He said: “I’m not sure you can really control it all the time because each corner is a massive threat. They stretch the rules in these moments with full-body contact.
“There was only one offensive foul on a set piece tonight which was whistled and that was against us, which is really funny. Holding is holding, and pushing is pushing.
“It was more the game they wanted than the one we wanted. They could dictate it because of how it got whistled.”
Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has also earlier in 2024, indicated the need for the club to sign a set-piece specialist in the summer transfer window, as they currently lack one.
He said: “We work a lot on set-pieces. We have specialists. We are a coaching staff in charge of everything. We have a group of analysts for set-pieces.
“After that, it is about the quality of the player. It is about the takers. We don’t have a specialist.
“Maybe Chilly [Ben Chilwell] is good at delivery, but we don’t have a specialist after that.”
Anyway, Chelsea return to action on Sunday, March 17, 2024, facing Leicester City in the quarter-finals of the English FA Cup.
The Blues will certainly be hoping that they can hurt the Foxes by every means possible, including through set-piece.
Cueva will still be with the Bees until the remainder of the campaign, working alongside Thomas Frank.
Chelsea will have to part with a compensation fee to Brentford, expected to be within the region of £750,000 to £1,000,000 for Bernardo Cueva.
The Stamford Bridge side have since been without a dead ball specialist coach since Anthony Barry exited the club alongside Thomas Tuchel.
Cueva is a first-team coach at Brentford, who works closely with Frank to better the club's output from set-pieces.
Bernardo Cueva became known when he was an analyst for Mexican side Club Deportivo Guadalajara.
The tactician departed Mexico for a role at Brentford in July 2020, and about a year into his time as set-piece coach of the London club, he was also given a similar role with the Norwegian men's national team.
In the 2022/23 season, only Liverpool (17) scored more goals in the Premier League from set-pieces than the Bees (16), with the exclusion of penalties. Interestingly, seven of those Brentford's goals were netted by Ivan Toney.
Tottenham Hotspur scored 16 goals from set-pieces, while Arsenal recorded 15.
Toney's tally was just one less than the entire goals Chelsea scored from set-pieces last season (8), with the Blues also scoring just 7 goals so far this term.
Several managers have voiced out their thoughts on Bernardo Cueva, with some not complementary, while others are full of admiration for the Mexican.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp isn't much of a fan of Cueva, having previously watered down the impact of the job on the field of play.
He said: “I’m not sure you can really control it all the time because each corner is a massive threat. They stretch the rules in these moments with full-body contact.
“There was only one offensive foul on a set piece tonight which was whistled and that was against us, which is really funny. Holding is holding, and pushing is pushing.
“It was more the game they wanted than the one we wanted. They could dictate it because of how it got whistled.”
Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has also earlier in 2024, indicated the need for the club to sign a set-piece specialist in the summer transfer window, as they currently lack one.
He said: “We work a lot on set-pieces. We have specialists. We are a coaching staff in charge of everything. We have a group of analysts for set-pieces.
“After that, it is about the quality of the player. It is about the takers. We don’t have a specialist.
“Maybe Chilly [Ben Chilwell] is good at delivery, but we don’t have a specialist after that.”
Anyway, Chelsea return to action on Sunday, March 17, 2024, facing Leicester City in the quarter-finals of the English FA Cup.
The Blues will certainly be hoping that they can hurt the Foxes by every means possible, including through set-piece.