Pochettino has constantly been linked with Real Madrid.
Steve McManaman has told BeIN Sports that he expects Real Madrid to hire Santiago Solari for the rest of the season, until the club can work out a way to lure Mauricio Pochettino from Tottenham Hotspur.
Julian Lopetegui was sacked earlier this month with Real Madrid way down in ninth place in the La Liga table, picking up just 14 points from 10 league matches.
Solari has been promoted into the role as caretaker manager after looking after Real Madrid’s B-team, and has reportedly got three more games to claim the job permanently. It would be a similar move to that of Zinedine Zidane.
He got off to a winning start in the Copa Del Rey with a 4-0 win over minnows Melilla, and now faces Valladolid at home on Saturday. But former Real star and assistant manager McManaman believes he will be a stop gap.
“I think they will go with him [Solari] until they can see a way of getting Pochettino,” McManaman said. “I can’t see them being successful this year and I think Solari would need success there.
“They look way behind other teams, they look way behind Barcelona. They don’t look as if they’re going to do anything in the Champions League. it’s unlikely they will be successful this season, and they will probably change it in the summer.”
Pochettino recently signed a contract at Spurs until the summer of 2023, after taking the club to the Champions League once again despite having a net spend of just £29million since joining Spurs in 2014.
The Argentine boss has already indicated that he would never manager Barcelona due to their rivalry with former side Espanyol, with whom he played during his playing career and then managed.
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