Numerous sources including The Sun are running with the suggestion that Mauricio Pochettino could be set to make a sensational return to Tottenham Hotspur this summer. Whilst much loved, the Argentine didn’t leave Spurs by accident in November 2019.
Results had been abysmal, with winning away from home something that very rarely occurred. The then gaffer was clearly uncomfortable in pressers and one felt that every game left him reluctantly embracing a Groundhog Day routine where the same players were staring back at him in the dressing room, players that heard everything he could possibly say to them, and who had only experienced failure in their time with him.
The lack of churn in the transfer markets for a period of some 18-months undermined all the good Pochettino had done, and prevented Spurs from rebuilding, a point made in Poch’s ‘painful rebuild’ comments made in May 2019 before being fired in the November.
Sure, there has been some movement in the squad since his departure, but the bulk of the players are the same – only older. What is Mauricio supposed to do in order to reach these old friends this time around? Tell them excitedly wait he learned in his short spell in France? One cannot help but feel that this would be a situation with a short-lived impact.
If a transfer budget were made available – then sure – that would influence things enormously, but is Daniel Levy really at a point where he wants to effectively admit to the world that he got it wrong and ought to have backed Poch properly the first time around?
The real issue is that there is that given the post-COVID 19 footballing economy, there aren’t funds to back any new – or nearly new – manager.
In short, this is a nice idea, but once one scratches the surface, that’s all it is.
