Profile
When Mauricio Pochettino left Tottenham in November 2019, he did so as the most popular and respected Spurs manager of the modern era. So admired was the transformation he oversaw that their bitter rivals Arsenal – perhaps the biggest victims of his success – were credited with an interest in recruiting him; he also continued to be identified as a future manager of both Manchester United and Real Madrid.
A disciple of Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa, Pochettino attracted Spurs’ attention by impressively nurturing so many promising young players at Southampton while creating a consistent and exciting team. At Spurs he did the same with Harry Kane, Eric Dier, Dele Alli and more, inspiring them to not only convincingly challenge for the Premier League title, but to their first ever Champions League final.
After more than 12 months out of the game, Pochettino returned to management with the team that succeeded Tottenham as Champions League runners-up. He replaced Thomas Tuchel at Paris Saint-Germain after the German oversaw a disappointing start to 2020/21, and his brief will be simple – to maintain their dominance in France while making another serious challenge in a tournament neither he nor PSG have ever won.