David Webb, who was Tottenham’s head of elite identification and player development between 2015 and 2017, has said Mauricio Pochettino could make a sensational return to the club and make Wilfried Zaha his number-one target.
Pochettino has been without work since parting ways with Paris Saint-Germain last summer and, unsurprisingly, he has been heavily linked with a return to North London over the last couple of weeks amidst the uncertainty surrounding Antonio Conte’s future (The Athletic).
The Sun’s Shaun Custis revealed on talkSPORT earlier this week that the 51-year-old is desperate to return to N17 and has been pushing to get the job back.
The journalist asserted, however, that Daniel Levy is reluctant to reappoint the Argentine as that would be an admission of his mistake in sacking him back in 2019.
It has emerged over the last few days that Spurs might be competition with Real Madrid for Pochettino’s services, with the former Tottenham manager thought to be at the top of Los Blancos’ wishlist (The Times).
Webb believes that while the Argentine would be open to offers from other leagues, his preference would be to return to the Premier League and more specifically, Spurs.
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He told The Sun: “I don’t know the ins-and-outs of how fractured Poch’s relationship is with Daniel.
“And I don’t think that Poch wants to pigeonhole himself solely to the Premier League.
“If a good offer were to come up in Spain or Germany, he’d be open to that, too. But the Premier League will always be his first choice.
“He was phenomenal at Tottenham — and would be open to it again.”
Webb also backed Spurs to try and poach Zaha from Selhurst Park should Pochettino take over from Conte.
He said regarding the Crystal Palace star: “He’s really settled from what I know, with all his family around the Croydon, Beckenham, Bromley area so if he was trying something new, ideally it would be another London club.
“He’s had good offers from abroad like Saudi Arabia but I think his ideal one would be to test himself in the Premier League at a higher club.
“Poch was a big fan of his. I still think he’s attractive for a couple of years because he’s still got great attributes for the Premier League.”
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The good thing about Bayern’s decision to sack Nagelsmann is that one of Pochettino or the German is likely to be available this summer (whoever Real Madrid do not appoint).
However, one does get the feeling that the Spurs hierarchy have some reservations about bringing the Argentine back to the club.
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