Mauricio Pochettino’s assistant says the Argentine will return to Tottenham 'for sure'
The Paris Saint-Germain boss enjoyed a successful five-year tenure in north London
Paris Saint-Germain manager Mauricio Pochettino will “for sure” return to Tottenham in the future, according to his assistant.
Jesus Perez first began working alongside Pochettino at Espanyol, before following him to Southampton, Spurs and now PSG.
Pochettino and his staff were dismissed by Tottenham in November 2019 after a poor start to the season.
That marked an unhappy end to a hugely successful five-and-a-half year tenure, during which Tottenham became top-four regulars and reached a Champions League final.
Pochettino is still popular among the Tottenham fan base, who are more divided in their view of current manager Jose Mourinho.
And Perez believes that he and the Argentine have unfinished business in north London.
“Every day Daniel [Levy] crossed to Mauricio’s office and he joined us on the topic we were discussing,” Perez told the Evening Standard of Pochettino’s relationship with the Tottenham chairman.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
“Then most of the time we had breakfast with him and lunch at the training ground. We, as a staff, never started lunch until Mauricio or Daniel was at the table. That’s something we always respected.
“Mauricio and Daniel still text each other and they have a very good relationship. We don’t have any bad feelings with Daniel. The other way around. It was a professional decision.
“At some point, we had to split but we will be back at Spurs for sure.”
Levy is known for his careful stewardship of Tottenham, a philosophy which sometimes clashed with Pochettino’s desire to take the team to the next level.
And Perez believes the cost of building Tottenham’s new stadium made it difficult for Pochettino and Levy to meet in the middle.
“At some point, as everyone knows, visions were different,” he added.
“The circumstances of the club, they couldn’t please what the team needed or the manager needed to keep progressing. Because of the training centre and then the stadium.
“To keep that level and keep progressing and build a stadium, probably it was impossible.”
While you're here, subscribe to FourFourTwo today and save 37%. All the exclusive interviews, long reads, quizzes and more but with more than a third-off normal price.
NOW READ
FEATURE Should referees have microphones? FFT writers make the cases for and against
RANKED The 10 most iconic football shirt sponsors ever
QUIZ! Can you name every team Manchester United and Manchester City have beaten in a final?
FourFourTwo was launched in 1994 on the back of a World Cup that England hadn’t even qualified for. It was an act of madness… but it somehow worked out. Our mission is to offer our intelligent, international audience access to the game’s biggest names, insightful analysis... and a bit of a giggle. We unashamedly love this game and we hope that our coverage reflects that.