A tier one journalist has confirmed what TEAMtalk has been reporting well before Thomas Frank was even sacked: that Tottenham Hotspur are ready to go all out to appoint Mauricio Pochettino as their new manager, though it seems club overlords, ENIC, will need to overcome two sizeable issues, including Donald Trump, first.
A new era in north London began dismally over the weekend as new interim manager Igor Tudor was unable to inspire the side to victory as they were thrashed 4-1 at home by Arsenal in the north London derby. That defeat means the Croatian becomes the first Tottenham manager since Andre Villas-Boas in 2012 to suffer defeat in their first match at the helm.
With Spurs now very much embroiled in a fight to avoid relegation, and currently sitting just four points clear of the drop zone, Tudor has alarmingly admitted that the Spurs side he has inherited from the sacked Frank is “full of problems”.
And with the ‘Croatian Sam Allardyce’ only destined for a short stint at the helm, Spurs are already thinking about the long-term incumbent who can steer the club back towards the upper echelons of the Premier League and ensure these now all too frequent dalliances with the bottom of the table do not continue to be commonplace.
To that end, our correspondent Fraser Fletcher reported on January 13 that Spurs were not just giving serious consideration to sacking Frank, but had also started to explore the possibility of a sensational return to the club for Pochettino.
Now the plan to bring the much-adored Argentine back to N17 has been given a significant green light from the much-respected Henry Winter.
Speaking on the Market Madness podcast, Winter stated: “I’m sure it is their Plan A, but it’s also Plan USA and any hint of interest in Mauricio Pochettino, even if it’s just a puff of smoke from Tottenham High Road and a letter on a postcard to California, I think that would just cause chaos in America as we’ve seen with coaches who are approached by clubs before.”
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Next Tottenham manager: Two hurdles to Pochettino
With regards to a second stint in north London, where sources report that Pochettino feels he has “unfinished business”, but having already said “yes” to a potential return, we have already stated that any move will be delayed until after the 53-year-old has completed his obligations with the USMNT, whose contract runs until after the World Cup.
With the competition played on home soil, the USA will hope to reach the knockout stages for the eighth time in their history, with the country hoping to earn a last-eight place for the first time since 2002.
Now Winter has confirmed that any move will likely face opposition from arguably the most powerful man on earth: USA president Donald Trump!
“Bobby Robson going into 1990 knowing he was at a club at the end of it was called a traitor. He (Pochettino) would definitely get that in America, you would have [President Donald] Trump talking about it!”
However, with his $6m a year contract officially due to expire once USA’s involvement in the tournament is over, and with an extension highly unlikely, even Trump will be powerless to prevent Pochettino taking up the Spurs job.
Winter, though, accepts that Tottenham have more pressing issues, such as trying to stave off the threat of relegation, while he also believes the club’s overlords, ENIC, will need to adopt a less stringent policy when it comes to the club’s wage bill, which is approximately half the annual cost of Manchester City, for example.
Winter added: “The fans would love Pochettino.
“But I think they’ve got to sort out a lot of other things first. Recruitment, whether it be paying more in wages and maybe they’re going to loosen the purse strings, the Lewis family in the summer as we’re expecting, but it it’s about characters, it’s about leaders.”
Latest Tottenham news: Catastrophic boss blunder; elite French keeper eyed
Meanwhile, Man Utd legend Paul Scholes has questioned Spurs’ decision to appoint former Juventus boss Tudor as their interim manager, naming a former Premier League boss as the perfect man who would have steered them to safety.
On the transfer front, Spurs are intensifying their search for a new goalkeeper, and TEAMtalk can reveal that a stand-out French star has emerged as an option to replace Guglielmo Vicario, who the club have decided to offload in the summer.
Elsewhere, Real Madrid have taken a shine to a talented young Spurs midfielder, with a report revealing how the north London side view the young star, who has now become the fourth Spurs player to be linked with a move to Estadio Bernabeu.
Should the worst happen, though, and the club suffer relegation, we have taken a look at a typical Spurs XI that could take the field in the Championship next season.