Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino reportedly impressed Daniel Levy with his ‘single-mindedness’ in 2014.
According to The Independent, Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino landed the Spurs job in 2014 after impressing chairman Daniel Levy with his ‘single-mindedness’.
Tonight, Spurs head to the South Coast take on Southampton in the Premier League, and will be looking to make it three wins in a row having beaten Hull City and Burnley in their last two fixtures.
The game not only sees Tottenham defender Toby Alderweireld return to take on his former club, but also sees Spurs manager Pochettino make another return to the South Coast.
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino
Pochettino, 44, spent almost 18 months in charge of Southampton having arrived as Nigel Adkins’ replacement in January 2013, guiding the Saints to an eighth-placed finish in his only full season in charge of the club.
The Argentinian has since finished in fifth and third place with Spurs, and will be hoping to push towards the top four again with a victory against his former club this evening.
Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy
Ahead of tonight’s game, The Independent have claimed that Pochettino landed the Tottenham job after impressing Spurs chairman Daniel Levy with his ‘single-mindedness’ during their first meeting together.
The report tells a story of how Levy handed Pochettino a piece of paper with the entire Tottenham squad on it, asking Pochettino what he would do with the squad he would be inheriting at White Hart Lane.
Pochettino passed the piece of paper straight back to Levy, stating that because he was still Southampton manager at the time, he couldn’t think as the manager of any other club – and that encounter convinced Levy to pay £2million to buy Pochettino out of his Southampton contract.
After some managerial mistakes in recent years, such as Jacques Santini, Juande Ramos and arguably Andre Villas-Boas, it seems that Levy has struck gold with Pochettino – and it seems that his attitude towards that conversation with the Spurs chairman led to his White Hart Lane move.
Where do you think Pochettino ranks in the history of Tottenham managers?
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
