Is Poch On The Verge Of Leaving?

The sacking of Jose Mourinho has been a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’ for quite some weeks now. It has been long overdue, but the club’s hierarchy finally gathered some courage and gave the most arrogant man in the universe his cards following a poor run of performances capped by an embarrassing defeat away to bitter rivals Liverpool on Saturday.

Bet365 had priced the Portuguese as the likeliest to be fired before Christmas this season, a prediction that has swiftly come to pass. Learn more about the bookie by checking out the comprehensive Bet365 Sports betting site review by SportyTrader.

To Manchester United fans, the news about Mourinho meant a few things: lesser post-match grousing from the gaffer after absurd league losses to middle-table teams, a warmer atmosphere in the dressing room, and, at the very least, less insipid football from the crestfallen 20-time English champions.

Spurs fans around the globe received the news rather differently. Someone suggested that they couldn’t figure out where else to get an easy six points a season from a so-called top six rival and we couldn’t agree more. Bar the 3-1 win over Chelsea at Wembley, you couldn’t come up with a more orgasmic result this season than the 3-0 thrashing of United at Old Trafford. A repeat in the reverse fixture was on the cards with Mourinho still at the helm, but the man is gone!

A bigger prospect to worry about is that of losing our manager to Manchester United. There have been claims making the rounds that Ed Woodward had a shortlist of Mourinho’s potential successors long before the Portuguese was laid off. Of interest is that even with Zinadene Zidane’s availability, Ed still reckons an already-taken Mauricio is the most suitable person to fill the void left by Sir Alex Ferguson back in 2013. Almost every pundit and journalist thinks the same. SportyTrader website even published an article of what Pochettino’s starting XI would look like if he became manager at United.

But, why our Poch, when someone like Conte, who has won the league (in the era of Pep Guardiola), is out there all ready for the call?

Everyone loves Poch!

Manchester united, just like their rich counterparts Real Madrid, have had enough experimenting with their franchises. Philosophies seem to be working better in the long run than pragmatic approaches, and Barcelona is the perfect example of why that makes sense. Manchester United are looking for a manager that will build a team to compete at the highest level for the next decade. Of course, it is virtually impossible for any manager to replicate Sir Alex Ferguson’s feats over the past two decades, especially with City and Liverpool up there playing the best football the premier league has seen in a long time, but taking into account United’s financial might and alluring history, toppling the two teams and retaking top spot may not be all that impossible. All the club needs is a manager that has the patience that jibes with such plans.

That partly explains why our Pochettino is such a hot cake in a pool full of unemployed managers with trophy-lade resumes. He has been at Tottenham since 2014 and we haven’t missed out on a Champions League spot one season. That’s nothing to sneeze at. A club like Chelsea, despite their willingness to splurge for  every above-average player that pops up somewhere in Europe, have won the league twice, yes, but have failed to play in the Champions League a whole two seasons.

Mauricio has it all – consistency, a good scouting eye, and attractive football – a concoction of traits that typifies every truly great manager. Beautiful, free-flowing football, for instance, makes up for poor results when the going gets tough. Or, how do you think Klopp is still manager at Liverpool having won nothing since he took the helm back in 2015?

When might Pochettino be leaving?

Following the departure of Zidane in the summer, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez reportedly had Pochettino at the top of his wish-list and was ready to stick with Lopetegui’s successor, Solari, until the Argentine was available. According to former Real Madrid player Steve McManaman, Perez believes that time will be at the end of the 2018/19 season.

That is about the same time Manchester United plan to make a formal bid for Mauricio. It will be two of the biggest clubs in Europe fighting for our manager, who has evidently cut a frustrated figure at the club since at least the beginning of the season.

Both the Red Devils and Los Blancos are known to use their financial muscle to ward off competition when it comes to transfer battles, and this looks like the time money won’t count. Huge offers will be on the table from either side; the zero-time league champion may have to look at other factors rather than the money to base his choice on. Either way, Mauricio will be very likely on his way out, but at least we can rest assured he will finish the season with us.