Pochettino is in talks with Tottenham so will he leave PSG for a sensational return?
By Jack Pitt-Brooke 11m ago
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Tottenham Hotspur are in talks with Mauricio Pochettino about a shock return to the club this summer.
Pochettino, who was sacked by Spurs only 18 months ago and appointed as Paris Saint-Germain head coach in January, is attracted by the idea of a quick return to the London club and to English football after failing to settle in the French capital. But while re-appointing Pochettino would also be attractive to chairman Daniel Levy, as he tries to repair relations with fans and relaunch the team towards the Premier League’s top four, it will be very difficult to pull off.
There is still one year left on Pochettino’s PSG contract and the Ligue 1 club do not want the upheaval of a third head coaching change in as many years. They would face another summer of disruption only a few months after sacking Thomas Tuchel in December. If Pochettino does ultimately decide that he wants to return to Tottenham, he would most likely have to resign in order to force his way out.
Pochettino’s spell in Paris has been mixed so far: PSG won the French Super Cup and the Coupe de France, and got to the semi-finals of the Champions League with thrilling victories over Bayern Munich and Barcelona along the way. But they were knocked out of Europe at that point by Manchester City and have lost their Ligue 1 title to Lille after suffering three defeats in six matches between February 21 and April 3. This is only the second time in nine seasons that PSG have failed to win their domestic championship.
Pochettino has won two cups but not the league with PSG (Photo: Aurelien Meunier – PSG/PSG via Getty Images)
But although Pochettino has enjoyed the chance to work at an elite club, he has found his role in Paris to be less powerful than the one that he held at Spurs in five and a half years working with Levy. The Argentine has found himself facing the same internal issues at PSG as predecessor Tuchel did. According to reports in Italy, PSG are concerned enough about the situation to be sounding out replacements.
Again, the prospect of a return to a club where he was so popular is said to be attractive to Pochettino.
He managed Tottenham from the summer of 2014 until his dismissal in November 2019, leading the team on two close-run campaigns for the Premier League title in 2015-16 and 2016-17, and to the final of the 2018-19 Champions League. He is very aware of how loved he still is by the Spurs fans, and also retains a strong affection for Premier League football. Now he has to weigh up whether he wants to return to his old life, as difficult as that would be to arrange, or to press on with this new project across the Channel.
The Tottenham players are aware of the possibility of Pochettino returning, and are excited by the prospect.
In the last two seasons, Spurs have fallen away from the standards he set, finishing sixth and now seventh in the Premier League. Next year, they will be competing in the inaugural season of the Europa Conference League, having missed out on both the Champions League and Europa League. Their fitness levels have fallen considerably, too.
For Levy, the chance to reunite with Pochettino is naturally very appealing and despite sacking him, the two men have remained friends.
In his programme notes for the last home game of this season against Aston Villa, Levy admitted Spurs have “lost sight of some key priorities and what’s truly in our DNA”. There is a strong desire there to get back to the values of the Pochettino era — namely attractive, attacking football, the promotion of young players to the first team, and a sense of unity between all aspects of the club. Through the search for a new head coach to succeed Jose Mourinho, Pochettino has been seen as the benchmark of the type of coach that Tottenham would want to appoint. And now there is a chance that the man himself could be a candidate for his old role.
Ever since Mourinho was sacked five weeks ago, the north London club have been working hard to find the replacement who can get them back on track. That process led to the drawing up of a shortlist, including Erik ten Hag at Ajax, Belgium’s former Everton manager Roberto Martinez, unattached German coach Ralf Rangnick and Brighton’s Graham Potter. They were also interested in Hansi Flick, but the former Bayern head coach will take over the Germany national team after this summer’s European Championship.
None of those four shortlisted candidates has been ruled out yet. Indeed, given the difficulties inherent in getting Pochettino out of PSG, they very much remain in the frame. Ten Hag is still popular, having impressed in his three and a half seasons at Ajax, winning two Eredivisie titles there. Even though he signed a new contract with the Dutch giants on April 30, it does not mean he would be out of Spurs’ reach.
But there is no doubt that Pochettino would be the choice of most Tottenham fans if there is any way for him to return. His popularity has only grown since his departure.
Pochettino took Spurs to the Champions League final in 2019 (Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images )
When Pochettino was sacked early last season, that Tottenham side were at the end of their cycle. The club’s failure to invest in players in 2018 meant that the team went stale the following year and some of the players lost their hunger or grew tired of the demanding environment. Just before the Champions League final loss to Liverpool, Pochettino warned of the “painful rebuild” that was required to build a “new project”.
Tottenham have effectively been in transition ever since, with the 17-month Mourinho era delivering neither results on the pitch (no trophy, no return to the Champions League) nor any closure on the Pochettino era.
The club needs a clear-out and a rebuild even more now than they did two years ago.
Pochettino might now have the opportunity to deliver exactly that.
The ball is in his court.
