Football news - Mauricio Pochettino: Tottenham open talks with PSG boss about a return to north London club
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ByEurosport
Updated 27/05/2021 at 11:38 GMT
Tottenham are reportedly in talks with Mauricio Pochettino to see if they can re-hire the man they sacked in November 2019. Ajax boss Eric Ten Hag and former RB Leipzig head of sport and development Ralf Rangnick are reportedly the frontrunners for the vacant manager role, but Pochettino has emerged as a new candidate alongside Antonio Conte, who departed Inter Milan on Wednesday.
Mauricio Pochettino (L) and Daniel Levy (R)
Image credit: Getty Images
Tottenham have opened talks with Mauricio Pochettino to re-hire the Argentine from Paris Saint-Germain, according to a report in The Athletic.
Pochettino was sacked by Spurs 18 months ago and was appointed as PSG head coach in January as successor to Thomas Tuchel, but he is reportedly unhappy with the club hierarchy and would be open to leaving Paris.
During Pochettino's tenure PSG have won the French Super Cup and the Coupe de France, but they were knocked out of the Champions League semi-finals to Manchester City and were pipped to first place in Ligue 1 by surprise package Lille, marking it only the second time in the last nine seasons Les Parisiens have failed to seal the French title.
The head coach position at Tottenham has been vacant since Jose Mourinho, who replaced Pochettino, was sacked in April following a string of disappointing results and uninspiring performances. Ryan Mason, 29, has been in charge since on an interim basis.
Pochettino has one year left on his PSG contract. The Argentine turned Tottenham into top four regulars and led them to the Champions League final in 2019, six months before he was dismissed.
Pochettino said on Thursday he has not achieved all the goals he set himself when he joined but has laid good foundations at the Ligue 1 club, even as he is linked with a move back to Spurs.
"We achieved certain goals. We didn't manage to achieve all of them, but I think we laid a good foundation," he said in an interview on the PSG website.
"I'm happy with the way the players adapted to the changes. There are a lot of things that couldn't be changed or couldn't be developed because of lack of time.
"But I think that with this way of working and with the desire to be able to develop other kinds of ideas on the pitch, it will be possible to do great things in the future."
Pochettino said he had also formed a strong bond with the players at PSG in the past five months.
"In a short time you can create a very strong connection. It's clear that we, as a coaching team, came in and received affection from everyone," he added.
"We were accepted and through our way of being, spontaneous and natural relationships were created."
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