Darren Bent claims that Newcastle-linked Pochettino isn’t world class

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Is Mauricio Pochettino a world-class manager? Darren Bent doesn’t think so.

Former Sunderland and Tottenham striker Darren Bent spoke to TalkSport about Newcastle United’s potential managerial targets. 

The Magpies are on cloud nine now thanks to the club’s takeover slowly coming into fruition. Newcastle fans expect their new owners to make big things happen next season starting with a new top-quality manager. 

A number of massive names have been linked with the Newcastle job over the last few days and one of them is former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino. (ESPN)

Pochettino made a tremendous name for himself during his time at Spurs where he was widely regarded as one of the best in the league. However, Bent feels that the reported Newcastle managerial target still has a lot to do before he is labelled world-class. 

He said: “I think he’s (Pochettino) a very good manager but he’s not world-class. He’s got to win things; Jurgen Klopp is a world-class manager – would you put Pochettino in that same bracket?”

“I think Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, [Jose] Mourinho… He’s a very good manager but I wouldn’t put him in that category. Poch got Spurs to a certain level but he was unable to get them to a trophy. The top-class managers in the country, like Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, all won trophies.”

Pochettino, like most other managers over the last decade, failed to win a trophy at Tottenham but that alone isn’t enough to judge his work there. 

The Argentine took Spurs from being a Europa League club to become regulars in the Champions League and also led them to the finals of the competition. 

The one problem he had at Spurs was lack of support from the board in the transfer market. If reports are to believed, that will not be the case at Newcastle which could tempt him into taking the job. 

The Magpies need someone to help them grow from where they are to the very top. Pochettino did something similar at Tottenham and the chances are, he will do a lot better with money to spend at Newcastle.