Madrid throw in the towel

Real Madrid have apparently given up their pursuit of trying to recruit Mauricio Pochettino as their new manager.

The European champions are looking to replace Zinedine Zidane, who announced on Thursday that he was resigning from his position after guiding the club to three successive Champions League trophies.

Sky Sports Spanish pundit claims that Madrid decided to throw in the towel due to the fact that Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is known for his tough negotiating, something which they experienced in the Luka Modric and Gareth Bale transfers, coupled with the fact that there is no release clause in the new contract which Pochettino signed last week.

Speculation had increased that Poch could join the Spanish giants, but he personally put the rumours to rest when he said he is “happy” in north London.

Balague told Sky Sports News: “Real could see there was so many positives in signing him, not just the fact he can deal with the stars but how he improves players and how he works with youth players as well.

“But what they had in front of them was the possibility of negotiating with Daniel Levy for perhaps a month, even longer, with no guarantees whatsoever that they were going to get him.

“They know that Levy is a very tough negotiator, with Florentino [Perez, Real Madrid’s president] having been in touch with him in recent seasons. They’ve decided to abandon the possibility of signing Mauricio Pochettino.

“That makes life very difficult for Real Madrid because there is not someone you could consider an automatic candidate after Pochettino.

“They will have to look at other possibilities including all the managers that are already in a job with a contract.”

“Real started fishing and put the idea out there in the media to see what the reaction was, but straight away they realised there was no clause for Pochettino to leave,” he said.

“They leaked to the media with the idea of adding pressure that there was a deal between Levy and Pochettino where he could leave for Madrid, but that was also false and very quickly quashed by Spurs. There really was no door half open.”