Mauricio Pochettino may be closing in on the Chelsea job, but he’s also had recent communication with two of the Blues’ biggest rivals.
Writing in his exclusive Daily Briefing for CaughtOffside this morning, Fabrizio Romano said it’s “really close” now for Pochettino to be named the new Chelsea manager, but where else could he have ended up?
Earlier this season, another CaughtOffside columnist, Ben Jacobs, spoke about Pochettino’s situation and stated that he was surprised to ultimately lose out to Erik ten Hag for the Manchester United job, while he also kept in contact with his former boss Daniel Levy at Tottenham.
Writing back in February, Jacobs said: “There’s been talk of a Tottenham return and my understanding is that Daniel Levy would be extremely open to bringing Pochettino back should Antonio Conte leave.
“If the Italian leaves, Pochettino will be a very serious candidate and he remains in touch with Levy. He won’t be the only name on the list, but he would, for example, be ahead of Thomas Tuchel, who Spurs don’t consider the right fit.”
On the United job, he added: “Of course, Pochettino has been linked with Manchester United in the past as well, but Erik ten Hag got the job ahead of him. This took Pochettino by surprise, but ten Hag was always a high-priority choice.
“Pochettino would have taken the Manchester United job in a heartbeat and put in a lot of research because he knew he stood a chance. But, as Pochettino hinted, the timing just wasn’t right.
“Ten Hag was confirmed in April last year, starting at the end of the 2021/22 season. Meanwhile, Pochettino was outgoing at PSG. The writing was on the wall, and he was looking around.
“There was contact made between Manchester United and Pochettino has part of the process.”
The Argentine did great work at Spurs and it’s a bit of a surprise that they didn’t try to bring him back sooner, so it will be interesting to see how they react if he ends up doing a great job at Stamford Bridge.
Man Utd, meanwhile, will surely be happy with how Ten Hag has got on in challenging circumstances in his first season at Old Trafford.
What is wrong with Levy, Poch should be our first choice any day. It will be really bad for Spurs if he goes to Chelsea.
Listen to the fans and players Levy.