Mauricio Pochettino has ruled himself out of returning to Tottenham Hotspur to replace Ange Postecoglou, describing it as "not realistic".
Spurs sacked Postecoglou just 16 days after leading the club to Europa League glory, their first trophy in 17 years. Pochettino, who is now the United States head coach, left Spurs in November 2019 after spending five years at the club, with the Argentine leading the Lilywhites to the Champions League final that same year.
Pochettino signed a two-year contract to become US head coach last September and is expected to lead the team into next year’s home World Cup. Speaking after his side’s 2-1 friendly defeat to Turkey in Connecticut, Pochettino told reporters: “After I left in 2019, every time that I was free, and the place of the position of the manager or head coach in Tottenham Hotspur, my name is appearing on the list.
“If you have seen the rumours, I think there are 100 coaches in the list. I think, don’t be worried about that.
“If something happened, for sure you will see, but we cannot talk about this type of thing, because I think today, it’s not real. It’s not realistic. Look at where I am, where we are. And the thing is, the answer is so clear, no? But we’re talking about it because it’s my club, like Newells or Espanyol.”
Brentford boss Thomas Frank has been installed as the bookmakers’ favourite for the vacancy, while Marco Silva and Xavi are also potential candidates. Tottenham said in a statement on Friday that Postecoglou was sacked because "the board has unanimously concluded that it is in the best interests of the club for a change to take place".
The statement added: "It is crucial that we are able to compete on multiple fronts and believe a change of approach will give us the strongest chance for the coming season and beyond. This has been one of the toughest decisions we have had to make and is not a decision that we have taken lightly, nor one we have rushed to conclude. We have made what we believe is the right decision to give us the best chance of success going forward, not the easy decision.
"We have a talented, young squad and Ange has given us a great platform to build upon. We should like to express our gratitude to him. We wish him well for the future - he will always be welcome back at our home. News on the appointment of a new head coach will be announced in due course."