Mauricio Pochettino makes major new Tottenham revelation and drops return hint

Beloved ex-Spurs boss has been consistently linked with a comeback to north London

Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that he was approached to take the Tottenham job last season as the club fought to stay in the Premier League.

Spurs sacked manager Thomas Frank in February after a miserable run of results left them hovering around the relegation zone, then replaced him with interim boss Igor Tudor, who failed to win any of his five league games at the helm.

By the end of March, Tottenham were just one point above the bottom three and in serious danger of dropping into the second division of English football for the first time in nearly 50 years.

After only 44 days in charge, Tudor was relieved of his duties and Spurs were left scrambling to appoint another new manager to save them from the brink of disaster.

They eventually negotiated a five-year deal with Roberto De Zerbi, who had previously been reluctant to take the role, but not before they approached former Spurs boss Pochettino.

Tottenham fans had consistently sung Pochettino’s name during the final months of Frank’s short-lived tenure in the hope that he would drop his commitments to the USA national team and help save his beleaguered former club.

The move did not transpire, with Pochettino leading the USA to the last 16 of their home World Cup this summer. But he admits he was contacted by Spurs and would have taken them up on their offer had he not already been in work.

Unavailable: Mauricio Pochettino currently manages the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT)

AFP/Getty

“The problem was that the timings were never the best,” Pochettino said.

“When I was free, I never received a contact. And then when I was working, I received a contact, but I cannot make the decision to come back. It was a little bit unlucky.

“Maybe one day the stars will align, and it can happen. But the problem was that when we wanted and we were free, we didn’t receive the approach. When we were working, we received the approach.”

Pochettino has been linked with a move back to Spurs for many years, first while he was manager of Paris Saint-Germain and then again in 2023 before he took over at Chelsea.

The Argentine, who took Spurs to the Champions League final in 2019 and oversaw two Premier League title challenges in 2016 and 2017, has a connection like few others to his previous club.

He admits, though, there was nothing special about him being approached by the club late last season, with Spurs “under pressure” to appoint a manager after Frank and Tudor’s disastrous spells.

“They were under pressure to bring another coach, to give him the possibility to stay for a long period like happened with De Zerbi,” Pochettino continued. “It was an obvious situation.

“In this moment, they called everyone, they called all the coaches. Free and not free.

“If I was free, of course I come. But I wasn’t free, I was preparing for the World Cup.”