When talking about Mauricio Pochettino, you’re definitely talking about a progressive thinker who honed his managerial career at his beloved Espanyol, broadened his managerial experience at Southampton, and went on to show the football world how well he has grown in his managerial career at Tottenham Hotspur.
The Argentine-born manager can be said to be the alpha and omega, or an orchestra, that orchestrated the story of Tottenham from been a serial bottler, opting from one manager to another with no clear identity. But with him, the club became a genuine challenger in the Premier League, and the Champions League with a formidable defense, vibrant and a swashbuckling brand of football that took them to the final of the UEFA Champions League.
It’s no news that Pochettino was also a footballer before he became a manager, just like some of the fast-rising football manager in world football now. He began his managerial career with Espanyol in 2008 as an assistant manager with the Espanyol Women’s team, and a year later he became the senior manager of Espanyol, a team struggling to survive in the Spanish League, and surprisingly he managed the ‘Blanquiazules’ to incredible results.
The 2008-09 campaign it’s one ugly season that seemed almost certain that Espanyol would be heading to the relegation. The ‘Blanquiazules’ was a club in trouble and also languishing in the relegation water, with the manager at the touchline before him managing the team. And as the situation of the team keeps getting worse, the Espanyol management put their faith in hands of their former player, young and aspiring manager, following the dismissal of his predecessor.
Surprisingly, the young and aspiring manager became the messiah that would go on to turnaround the ugly and porous season of Espanyol. In his first season, he led the ‘Blanquiazules’ to 10th position on the log in the Spanish league against all odds, considering the fact that the club were facing financial problems, yet Pochettino saved the day for Espanyol.
One unique thing that gave Pochettino an edge over other managers is how well he managed his players, and how he also gave a huge opportunity to young players who are ready to play for him and blend seamlessly into his team, just like he did with Harry Kane at Tottenham Hotspur.
That exactly how he started with the Espanyol players bringing them from the academy into the first team and going on to give him top-notch performance, which was evident in their positive result against Pep Guardiola’s team Barcelona.
After four years of managing the ‘Blanquiazules‘, the end to his managerial stint at Espanyol wasn’t a good one, as the team, good performances when he took over in the league started dwindling and questionable, which pushed them further down to the bottom of the league.
As such as the situation of the team keeps getting worse, Pochettino and the club management decided to part ways on mutual terms in 2012, a year the Argentine gaffer wouldn’t forget in a hurry, and amidst clear disappointment amongst the club’s fans at his departure, he said:
“I have waived the final year of my contract, but I will always be available for Espanyol if needed in the future”.
Following Pochettino’s departure from Espanyol, he took some time away from the game, in other to learn from his mistakes, and also reflect on what he’s done right and wrong to prepare him well for what to come in his next managerial position. Surprisingly after two months of his exit at Espanyol, he was offered the managerial position at Southampton to replace Nigel Adkins, in their quest to rebuild the team and the philosophy.
The unexpected dismissal of Adkins and the coming of Pochettino didn’t really go down well with the fans of the club, because at that time ‘the saint’ side was a club relatively doing well under Adkins in the league. They weren’t expecting such change at that moment, but surprisingly the change in managerial position proved to be the right decision that took the club to the next level, with all the players seamlessly fitting well into his philosophy.
At the time Pochettino kick starts his reign at St Mary, he developed and improved the performances of the players, such as former Liverpool’s Adam Lallana, Nathaniel Clyne who was signed from Crystal Palace, and former United midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin. With that, he was been noticed by different clubs in the league as one decent manager that could do much better with a bigger team, which showed how well he’s been growing as a manager.
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Unfortunately for Southampton, their fairytales run in the league and what seems like an empire they were building with Pochettino in the dugout came to an end when Tottenham Hotspur came calling. Having seen how good he was tactically, and how strong his man-management prowess is, at that time the London side were struggling under Tim Sherwood, and to some extent under former Porto manager Andre-Villas Boas, with that Daniel Levy brought in the Argentine head the affairs of the team in the 2014/15 season.
After a fifth-place finish in his first campaign, Tottenham challenged Leicester City for the title in 2015/16 and finished third on the log, achieving their highest Premier League finish and returning to the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 2010/11.
The Argentine gaffer penned a new five-year contract extension in May 2016, with his official title changing from head coach to manager.
The London club continued their progress, finishing second and third again in the following two seasons while reaching the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League in 2017/18. Pochettino was rewarded with another five-year contract in May 2018.
Tottenham Spurs then reached their first UEFA Champions League final following a memorable comeback against Ajax in the closing moments of their semi-final in Amsterdam. Spurs kneeled to a 2-0 loss at the hands of Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League final, and a difficult and extremely disappointing start to the 2019/20 Premier League campaign placing Spurs 14th on the log led to Pochettino departing the club on November 19, 2019.
And since then the former Southampton gaffer has been out of a job, now the question on every football enthusiast lips is where is the next destination for Pochettino?
With almost all the big clubs in Europe settled with good managers in their realm, and the only club which looks to be struggling in appointing a new boss is the Spanish giant. However, Barcelona has finally looked in the direction of one of their former player in Ronald Koeman who would take over from Quique Setien once he’s been announced officially as the new manager.
Another team that might also excite Pochettino is Juventus, but unfortunately, they’ve also appointed one of their former player in Andrea Pirlo, following the dismissal of Mauricio Sarri.
The only option for the former Espanyol coach is to wait patiently for his window. Perhaps, one of the top managers in some of the top clubs would have a terrible spell, and eventually, lose their job. If that didn’t happen soon, the Argentine manager might have to wait for another season to get a bigger club compared to what Tottenham offered him, or perhaps opt for a decent team in the mold of the London side.
