Phil Thompson expresses fear about Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino

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Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino has been linked with a move away from the Premier League high-flyers.

Phil Thompson told Soccer Saturday (broadcast on Sky Sports; 03/11 from 12:00) that he is starting to worry whether Mauricio Pochettino is fully committed to Tottenham amid speculation linking the Argentinian with the vacancy at Real Madrid.

Pochettino seems to have been heavily linked with the job at the Bernabau, with Sky Bet currently listing the Spurs boss as the favourite for the post.

The Tottenham chief has responded to the rumours that he could be heading back to La Liga, playing down the talk that he may be interested in leaving – as reported by the Guardian – but Thompson suggested that he has his concerns about whether Pochettino’s first choice would be to stay.

“This is starting to worry me. Is he committed? Sometimes I hear his comments and think he’s in for the long haul. He’s bullish in his press conferences. And then he gives out some vibes and I’m thinking you’re nowhere near committed,” he told Soccer Saturday.

“I admire him because they have been cash-strapped. I’ve said it before that this guy puts on a brave face but he’s still a manager of a football club and he still wants and needs other players to make it better at his football club. The other side, he knows that the new stadium’s there and I think there’s even more debt now that they’re having to borrow more money to finish this all off.

“It worries me. It is a case with a lot of managers now, other clubs will come in for them and they’ll say, ‘no, I’m not interested, unless you tell me I’ve got the job because I’m not going to take a chance with this one’. And I think that is where Pochettino sees himself if the club is of the right stature.”

While Pochettino may have perhaps deemed the Real Madrid job to be the pinnacle, it is certainly not inconceivable to imagine that he currently has no plans to leave Spurs even if Los Blancos come calling.

Although there have been some setbacks, they are not that far off the pace and have plenty to be excited about ahead of the coming years, particularly with the stadium move.

Meanwhile, while the Madrid post boasts an enormous amount of prestige, there is a lot of rebuilding to do within the squad – and there is clearly no guarantee that the next man will be given time to oversee the entire job.