Mauricio Pochettino considered quitting Tottenham Hotspur during the summer, according to a renowned journalist.
Guillem Balague has revealed that Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino was tempted to quit his role in North London this past summer.
Pochettino is into his sixth season as Spurs manager and it looks like being the worst one yet.
After eight Premier League games, Tottenham, who broke their transfer record in signing £63 million Tanguy Ndombele in July, sit ninth in the table and 13 points behind leaders Liverpool.
In addition to that, a 7-2 mauling by Bayern Munich in the Champions League has sapped Pochettino’s side of their morale and confidence, evident by their 3-0 defeat at Brighton a few days later.
The Argentine took Spurs to the brink of the greatest prize in club football last summer by guiding his troops to a Champions League final, only to be beaten by Liverpool in Madrid.
And Spanish football expert Balague claims that the former Southampton boss – yet to win a trophy with the Lilywhites – considered parting company with the club after that defeat in Madrid.
He wrote on BBC Sport: “The easy thing for Pochettino to do would be to clear his desk and wave an emotional goodbye to north London. He considered that during the summer and, had he left, would have had nothing to apologise for.
“He has taken Spurs and its fans into a land they could only have dreamed of and has done it by building a team that has played some of the most exhilarating football seen anywhere in the world. But that is not where his mind is now.”
With Real Madrid re-signing Zinedine Zidane during the second half of last season, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer set for his first full season at Manchester United, there wasn’t any summer speculation linking Pochettino to either of the clubs that he is so often linked with.
There were, however, suggestions that he could quit the club he joined in 2014, but those were put to bed once the transfers started.
But if Balague’s claims are true, Pochettino was genuinely torn over what to do – and you have to imagine that the events of recent weeks might make him regret not leaving.
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