POCH PUTS SPURS IN A REAL PICKLE
Boss faces grilling over Madrid link
MAURICIO POCHETTINO could face a Spanish Inquisition from Tottenham supremo Daniel Levy when he returns to London.
The Argentinian was the toast of North London last week when he penned a long-term deal that was as new and fresh as the billion-pound stadium Spurs are poised to move into.
The problem for Levy, though, is that Pochettino might not be joining him at the club’s impressive new home.
That’s because the 46-year-old has spent part of this week flirting with Real Madrid – from Barcelona of all places – while promoting his new book in Catalonia.
It is called ‘A Brave New World’ and the title appears quite apt considering the total pickle Pochettino and Spurs now find themselves in.
A week can be an eternity in football – not least at somewhere like Real, who might just have become the biggest madhouse in the world.
Where else would a manager decide to quit, despite having led his team to a remarkable third Champions League triumph on the trot?
That’s what Zinedine Zidane did, proving just how intolerable coaching Real can be.
His departure was a huge shock and will have sent Levy into a tailspin, because news that Pochettino is now the No.1 choice to replace Zidane at the Bernabeu is nothing of the sort.
Crisp
That tailspin will have turned into a rage once Levy witnessed Pochettino addressing the media and refusing to rule out a possible move to Madrid.
However, instead of killing the speculation stone dead, the Spurs boss left the door wide open for Real kingpin Florentino Perez.
Pochettino even wore a crisp white shirt – let’s not mention the sparkly jacket – during his press conference in Barca, almost in homage to the 13-time European champions.
The Spurs boss insisted he was happy at Spurs and wanted to focus on planning for next season. But having just trousered a significant wage rise, it was the least he could say.
But it was what he said earlier to Spanish newspaper El Confidencial that will concern Levy, his fellow directors and every single Spurs fan.
“When Real Madrid call you, you have to listen to them,” he
said. “Although in this case it doesn’t depend on me.
“I have just signed a long contract with Tottenham and I am very happy there.”
Spurs insist there is no clause in Pochettino’s new deal that allows him to leave, nor a verbal agreement that he can join Real.
But if Levy thinks that will deter Perez from making his move, then he is sadly mistaken.
Pochettino, appointed just over four years ago, insists he will not agitate to go, but he won’t have to because the Spanish giants will come to him.
How Real justify wanting him in the first place is down to them to explain, considering he has still to win a trophy since taking charge of Spurs in 2014.
But Real are used to getting what they want and rejecting them would be unthinkable for Pochettino, madder than the fact they want him in the first place.
Losing Pochettino would rip a huge hole in the masterplan that hard-nosed negotiator Levy has concocted.
The likes of Harry Kane and Dele Alli know they are underpaid but Pochettino has made this fact just about acceptable.
But if the main man disappears to Madrid, Spurs’ prize assets might just decide to follow him to a club that can fulfil all their ambitions – and more.