CBS Sports reporter Ben Jacobs has said that Mauricio Pochettino is being careful to only consider a managerial job where he will have a certain amount of power on the recruitment side, which is why a return to Tottenham might appeal to the Argentine.
The Athletic reported on Thursday that Fabio Paratici has been handed the responsibility of compiling a list of managers who could replace Antonio Conte.
The report explained that the Spurs managing director of football is unlikely to consider Pochettino for the role and claimed that the 51-year-old had not been contacted by the North London club as of yet.
The Times subsequently reported yesterday that the former Tottenham manager has made it clear that he is interested in returning to the club if the job is offered to him.
Jacobs has now explained that Pochettino was not keen on the Chelsea job as he is wary of working with a difficult hierarchy after his experience at Paris Saint-Germain and wants a role where he has a say in the club’s recruitment.
The journalist told TEAMtallk: “In terms of replacements, even though it becomes a little bit disrespectful, talking about who might come in before the manager has departed, that’s just football and Daniel Levy is a planner so he will inevitably be thinking about a scenario where Conte isn’t at the football club.
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“A Mauricio Pochettino return, I have reported many times, is very possible. Daniel Levy and Pochettino retain a very strong relationship on both a professional and personal level.
“And Pochettino as I understand it is biding his time, and he’s open to a Tottenham return, and Daniel Levy would be quite prepared to bring him back as well.
“So that would require wider club buy-in and Tottenham won’t only look at one candidate, but there’s a very realistic possibility if a vacancy emerges at Tottenham that Pochettino could come back.
“And I think that from Pochettino’s perspective, he wasn’t really that intent on joining anyone mid-season. And he wasn’t overly sold when he did hold a conversation with Chelsea over the course of the September period, after Thomas Tuchel was sacked.
“He wasn’t overly invested in the vision. And that’s not because Chelsea were not ambitious, and didn’t pitch it to him in alluring ways.
“It’s more because Pochettino’s come off the back of PSG, big squad, difficult hierarchy to work with, a lot of stars in the dressing room.
“And I think that he wants his next role to have that control on the football side and also strong input on the recruitment side.
“And if you look at Antonio Conte, and Tottenham, he’s probably in that summer window at least been given more control than most Spurs managers under Daniel Levy, and I always turn to Ivan Perisic, as an example of that, because of the age and, you know, the profile.
“I think that was a very Conte-like signing, not a Levy or Spurs-like signing, which tells you again that off the back of Champions League football, Antonio Conte had that control.
“So obviously, the only thing with Pochettino is what that dynamic would be like with Paratici. And I still think there’s a question mark there.
“But you know, generally within Tottenham, there’s plenty of senior people that would have pushback.
“And there’s also a desire from Poch if an offer was tabled to very strongly consider it, but there would still just be those finer points of discussion about how he fits into the current recruitment model, what kind of autonomy he would get.
“But that one’s a very realistic possibility.”
Spurs Web Opinion
If it is true that Fabio Paratici has been tasked with deciding on Conte’s successor, then it is highly unlikely that a return is on the cards for Pochettino.
Even if the Argentine is willing to work with a director of football, his footballing philosophy is clearly quite different to that of Paratici’s.
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