According to French football expert Julien Laurens, former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino is keen on taking over at Paris Saint-Germain, with pressure continuing to mount on Thomas Tuchel.
Hardly anyone would have anticipated that Pochettino would be out of work for more than a year when Tottenham parted ways with him in November of last year.
However, Laurens suggested that being patient and not rushing into a job has worked in the Argentine’s favour, with the pressure mounting on some managers at top European clubs.
Pochettino was heavily linked with the Manchester United job last month (MEN) but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer seems to have bought some time on the back of recent results.
There has been plenty of speculation linking the former Spurs boss to the Real Madrid hot seat, with reports in Spain indicating that Zinedine Zidane’s position is under threat (Marca).
Laurens believes that PSG would be another tempting project for Pochettino since he has a good relationship with the club following his time there as a player and loves the city of Paris.
The journalist suggested Tuchel could be on his way out of the Parc des Princes if the French giants do not advance to the knockout stages of the Champions League.
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Laurens told talkSPORT: “The pressure on Thomas Tuchel is big. He’s out of contract in June and he knows that he’s not going to get an extension, or that it’s very, very unlikely now.
“At the start of the season when PSG lost two in a row in the league, had they not won the third one I think he could have been gone by then.
“Now it’s a little bit different. They might not qualify tonight but they also might not be out just yet, depending on the result, it could all go down to the last game and they might keep him until that.
“They could even keep him until the end of the season, it doesn’t make any sense to pay someone off with only a few months left on their contract.
“Or, they could get rid of him now and get someone in who would then have six months to prepare for next season, whether that’s someone like Pochettino.
“The pressure has been building this season and it will peak if they don’t qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League, that would really be unacceptable for a club like PSG.
“Pochettino has been very clever in the way that he’s waiting. He could have gone back to management very early on but he waited. He really wanted to get the right project and the right club.
“Real Madrid would be interesting for him, we know how close he is to Florentino Perez. But he has really good ties with PSG, he was their player, their captain, and he loves Paris as a city and a football club.
“That could be very interesting, I think it’s a very attractive club for any manager.
“I think Manchester United is still in the back of his mind because maybe Ole Gunnar Solksajer has lasted longer than all of us expected, but certainly he [Pochettino] would be high on their list.”
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