We’ve heard a lot from Mauricio Pochettino recently, in particular about his experience working as Tottenham manager.
Pochettino is the talk of the town at the moment, with many predicting and hoping that he will return to Spurs in the summer.
He has the small matter of the World Cup to take care of first, but with pressure mounting on Thomas Frank, Pochettino is now the favourite to become Tottenham manager after this season.
It’s thought Pochettino would return in a heartbeat if Spurs asked him. That question hasn’t come up just yet, but he has been asked plenty about the time he spent in North London previously.
Ryan Mason surprised Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham
In an appearance on the High Performance Podcast alongside his good friend and long-time collaborator, Jesus Perez, Pochettino was asked about the Spurs player who surprised him the most when he arrived at the club. His answer actually surprised us.
He replied: “For me, Mason. Ryan Mason. He surprised us. When we arrived to Tottenham — and we need to give the credit to Sean McDermont — he was devastated. Our first meeting he said he had come from five different loans in the last few years.
“And I said ‘Relax, be positive. You are going to be with us during six months.’ I really trust in Sean McDermott what he said to me. He said to us, Ryan Mason was the most high quality player that was in my hands in the academy. I trusted Sean and we wanted to give Mason that opportunity.
“The first game that we played, in Seattle, he was in the starting 11, and he understood perfectly all that we explained and how we wanted to play. And wow, what a brain. And I said to Jesus after the game, ‘That is my player. That is a player who can bring the coach side to the pitch.'”
It figures, then, that Mason would go into coaching when his playing career came to an end. He clearly always had that instinct and managerial mind, even when he was on the pitch.
Pochettino had a strong relationship with Hugo Lloris
Between describing his time in N17 and outlining how Tottenham should be more ambitious now, Pochettino also briefly revealed which player he had the best relationship with.
The Argentinian and Perez were asked about this, and Perez put forward Hugo Lloris as the answer, to which Pochettino wholeheartedly agreed.
He said: “It’s true. Hugo is one of the closer, yes.”
Again, that makes a lot of sense. Lloris was made club captain during Pochettino’s tenure and was the most experienced player in the squad.