If things had worked out differently, Mauricio Pochettino would have gone back to his beloved Tottenham over the summer. They had put in the call and it stirred him. Nothing was going to put him off – not even the possibility of the club being in the Championship.
After a World Cup campaign with the United States and top jobs with Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain before that, he would have been willing to start a new chapter in the second tier of English football? In whatever division.” Football is about timing and Pochettino was left to reflect on how his stars did not align. It has been a theme of his managerial career, along with the desire to keep an eye out for greener pastures.
And not be shy about doing so. Spurs’ idea after sacking Thomas Frank in February was to get to the end of the season under the interim Igor Tudor, when they could assess a potentially deeper pool of candidates. They knew that if Pochettino was to be their man, they would have to wait for him because he was contracted to the US until after the World Cup.
There was no way he could walk out on that challenge. Nor would he have wanted to. Then the picture changed.
When Tudor bombed, leaving Spurs one point above the relegation zone with seven games to play, they pivoted to Roberto De Zerbi, who said no to them after they dismissed Frank. De Zerbi had just left Marseille and needed a break. Now Spurs made him a long-term offer he could not refuse.
And so Pochettino felt the door close to the club where he managed for five-and-a-half years from 2014; where he established such a strong connection. It was a little bit unlucky. Maybe one day the stars will align and it can happen.
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