Mauricio Pochettino signed a new five year contract with the club recently and yet speculation over his future in the last 24 hours has been as intense as ever. Most fans believed that once the contract was signed that would be at least one lot of speculation we can put to bed however as soon as Zidane left Real Madrid the stories began to roll.
The Real Madrid propaganda machine is in full effect. “Pochettino is the chosen one for Madrid” and “Perez has already reached out to him and Mauricio wants the job” are just two of the lines Marca and Don Balon in Spain have written. If you are not up on Spanish media then those two sources are about as reliable as a replacement bus service.
You may read that there is a clause in Pochettino’s contract which will allow him to talk to Real Madrid. This was flatly denied by the club and shortly after the formal denial the press stories changed to Daniel Levy and Mauricio Pochettino having a verbal agreement. Comical no?
So Real Madrid want him. Would he want Real Madrid? This is why I am not worried, in my humble opinion no I do not think he would want that job. Poch could very well fancy it in the future when he is older but lets think about how he works and what he likes to do.
He builds a small squad of players who works VERY hard on the training pitch. Players from every club he has ever managed at have talked about the work that is needed just to keep up and we have seen established stars at Tottenham get moved on quickly when they did not buy into the way he wanted them to work and play.
Do you imagine Ronaldo doing double his training? Do you imagine any of the ego maniacs at the club willing to do that? Poch likes to bring through younger players, at Madrid they demand instance success from everyone be it homegrown or not and of course Pochettino has never won a trophy as a manager (yet) and at Madrid if you do not win trophies you are sacked – sometimes even when you do win trophies… you are sacked.
So here is the key question, knowing all of that would you want that job? The answer for me is no. Not right now anyway. Pochettino has spoken a lot about building something and he as been heavily involved in every aspect of the club including the new stadium and the development at the training grounds all being done to his specifications.
Also his family are involved at the club. Younger son in the academy set up and older one of the first teams leading sport scientists.
He is also a man of his word and he said unless Daniel Levy fires him he would take us into the new stadium. It is an exciting time for the club and I truly believe he is loving being a part of that.
So, I am not worried and if you were before… don’t be.
-SJ
