Alasdair Gold has suggested that Steve Hitchen’s departure from Tottenham might have been the reason why the club’s interest in re-hiring Mauricio Pochettino has dissipated.
Multiple outlets have suggested over recent weeks that Pochettino is not part of Spurs’ narrowed-down shortlist to replace Antonio Conte, with the likes of Julian Nagelsmann, Vincent Kompany and Arne Slot thought to be ahead of him in the running (Daily Star).
The Athletic even claimed on April 5 that while the Argentine would be open to a fairytale return to N17, Tottenham have not even contacted him about the possibility of coming back to the club.
Something similar was also reported by Journalist Dean Jones, who told GiveMeSport on April 8 that Daniel Levy is ‘not as hot’ on Pochettino as he once was.
Gold was asked why Tottenham had changed their mind on the 51-year-old, considering they wanted to bring him back to the club in 2021 when he was at Paris Saint-Germain, and the journalist pointed to Hitchen’s departure as the potential difference.
Gold said on a Q&A on Football.London: “It’s purely my opinion but I wonder if the difference is Steve Hitchen.
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“Back in 2019 at that stage he was leading the search for the next manager and had a close relationship with Mauricio Pochettino so would more than likely have been a strong voice pushing for his return.
“I remember Tottenham were looking for the next Pochettino at the time and their shortlist reflected that so it would have made sense to try to get the actual Pochettino, but PSG were not budging.
“Then Fabio Paratici came in, drew up his own very different shortlist, Hitchen left midway through the season and it’s now a very different structure within Spurs. That’s my stab at it anyway.”
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I suspect that Paratici is the main reason why Tottenham are not after Pochettino as the Italian seems to have been handed the responsibility of finding a replacement for Conte.
If the decision rested purely with Levy, I believe that the Spurs chairman would lean towards bringing the Argentine back to the club.
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