Mauricio Pochettino underlined his love for “special club” Tottenham as the Paris St Germain manager continues to be linked with the Manchester United vacancy.
The 50-year-old swapped Southampton for Spurs in 2014 and enjoyed five memorable seasons in north London, including leading them to the 2019 Champions League final.
Pochettino left the club early in the 2019/20 season as a club great and was linked with a swift return to Tottenham, but his next destination looks more likely to be United right now.
The Argentinian has admirers in the corridors of power at Old Trafford and says, “the Premier League is the best league in the world”, reflecting warmly on his time at Spurs.
“For me, it was an amazing journey, amazing time,” Pochettino said. “I still feel that it’s my club, my place.
“I think when you really feel with the commitment and when you feel the people give everything to try to be successful, and they treat you really, really good how they treat us, it’s impossible to forget that.
“That is why I think Tottenham is always going to be a special club for me.”
Pochettino was speaking to BT Sport’s Between The Lines ahead of PSG’s crunch Champions League clash at Real Madrid.
🤝 Mr Pochettino— Dr Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) March 9, 2022
The result of Wednesday’s match could go a long way to deciding the former defender’s future in the French capital, where he has tried to embrace the club’s culture since taking over.
“Always for me it’s about when you arrive at a new club, it’s always about agreeing things and try to decide the best strategy to arrive where you want,” Pochettino said.
“But always building with knowing the culture of the club, knowing how the fans love football, the history of the club to be how they are. This is all really important.
“Of course it’s important to translate your ideas and stick with your ideas and to try to implement your ideas, but as a coaching staff to arrive at a club like Tottenham, respecting always the history of the club, respecting the taste of the fans and the culture.
“That, I think for me is the most important thing to start to build what you want.
“After, you can change small things to feel you are part of the history and philosophy, but for me, the most important thing is to design an expectation and philosophy together when you arrive rather than try to arrive and to change everything and say, ‘this is the main idea and if you don’t stick with this it’s impossible to win’.”
