According to The Telegraph, Mauricio Pochettino is now free to move on after his gardening leave at Tottenham Hotspur came to an end.
Spurs sacked Pochettino back in November, just months after reaching the Champions League final. Tottenham had struggled in the early stages of the season, and Daniel Levy decided to make a change.
In came Jose Mourinho, but Levy didn’t want Pochettino heading straight into a job with a Premier League rival. A gardening leave period therefore had to be served until the day after the season was supposed to end – which was Monday.
The season hasn’t actually finished due to the global pandemic, but Pochettino is still free to move on. The gardening leave period ended on May 18th, and he can now join another club without talks over compensation being required with Daniel Levy.
That may be ideal for Newcastle United. Sky Sports recently claimed that Pochettino is the top choice of Newcastle’s potential new owners.
No takeover has actually been completed yet, so Steve Bruce remains in charge of the Magpies. Newcastle will be hoping to get that deal done soon though, and a big name will be wanted for their new project.
Pochettino’s experience in England with Southampton and Tottenham makes him an appealing candidate. He turned Spurs into Premier League title challengers and Champions League finalists without spending big – so some will wonder what he could do with a big budget.
Newcastle would be able to give him that if the takeover goes through, but with AC Milan and Bayern Munich interested too, the Magpies face a battle.
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