'Makes us very happy' - Mauricio Pochettino reveals delight at beating Liverpool to Moses Caicedo and Romeo Lavia signings

• Coach happy with signings
• Pays tribute to sporting directors
• Says important not to rush debuts

WHAT HAPPENED? Inevitably fielding a numbers of questions about the big-money arrivals of Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia at his Friday afternoon news conference, the Argentine expressed his satisfaction and paid tribute to the sporting directors who concluded the deals.

WHAT THEY SAID: Pochettino told reporters: "I think it wasn't a competition [with Liverpool], it was the players' decisions to join us and that makes us very happy. They talk very highly about our owners and our sporting directors in they way that they work."

On the prospect of the pair featuring this weekend, the Chelsea boss was a lot more circumspect: "I think we need to assess them. We have one day more to assess them but it has been a very stressful week for Moises and Romeo. It’s easy to say they will be involved Sunday, but I think the most important thing is to avoid risks and not to rush them."

THE BIGGER PICTURE: It was a hectic week in west London. As well as the headline arrivals of Caicedo and Lavia, Chelsea shipped goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga on loan to Real Madrid and were then thwarted in their bid to bring in Crystal Palace's Michael Olise. The club also had to deal with an injury to captain Reece James.

IN THREE PHOTOS:

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WHAT NEXT FOR CHELSEA? After a tough opening day assignment against Liverpool, the Blues face another tricky tie as they travel across London to face West Ham on Sunday.