![HULL, ENGLAND - MAY 21: Mauricio Pochettino, Manager of Tottenham Hotspur looks on prior to the Premier League match between Hull City and Tottenham Hotspur at the KC Stadium on May 21, 2017 in Hull, England. (Photo by Nigel Roddis/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/w_850,h_560,c_fill,g_auto,f_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fplayingfor90.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2017%2F06%2F686268856-hull-city-v-tottenham-hotspur-premier-league.jpg-850x560.jpg)
HULL, ENGLAND - MAY 21: Mauricio Pochettino, Manager of Tottenham Hotspur looks on prior to the Premier League match between Hull City and Tottenham Hotspur at the KC Stadium on May 21, 2017 in Hull, England. (Photo by Nigel Roddis/Getty Images)
Mauricio Pochettino and Tottenham a perfect marriage for both
Mauricio Pochettino is obviously the right manager for Tottenham Hotspur, but Pochettino should also realize he’s found the perfect home for himself.
Mauricio Pochettino is quickly rising among the ranks of Tottenham Hotspur managers, and he is already the best Spurs boss the club has had during the 2000s. Under Pochettino, Tottenham have earned Champions League football in back-to-back seasons, they’ve chased Premier League titles two years in a row and they currently feature the most promising young starting XI in England.
While Pochettino has yet to guide Tottenham to a trophy or long-term European success, it is, nevertheless, easy to understand why he is often linked with some of the giants of club football such as Barcelona or Bayern Munich.
Young talents like Harry Kane, Eric Dier and Dele Alli, among others, have thrived playing under Pochettino to the point they could, one day, be purchased for massive sums. Logic suggests it’s only a matter of time until Pochettino cashes in en route to furthering his own career.
Just as with players, managers sometimes learn the grass isn’t always greener elsewhere. Andre Villas-Boas appeared headed for greatness after winning the treble with Porto at a young age, but his move to Chelsea was disastrous and ended in less than a single season. David Moyes earned the right to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United for his work at Everton, but Moyes quickly showed he wasn’t ready for the pressures that came with that massive task.
Money obviously talks in these types of situations, and Pochettino pursuing higher wages and also Champions League glory with a proven entity at some point in the future makes sense. One would have to imagine the 45-year-old would love to help mold the game’s next Neymar or even locate the next Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo if given the resources to accomplish those missions.
Before anybody thinks about starting the countdown clock for Pochettino’s exit from (insert the future name of Tottenham’s new stadium here), all would do well to realize he has created quite the home for himself at Spurs.
The squad is built for his desired attacking style of football. He’s faced no pressure to play individuals who could fetch high transfer fees were they to be made available. Tottenham bringing former player Scott Parker in to work with the Under-18s is another sign all aspects of the club are being shaped underneath Pochettino’s vision.
One thing Pochettino has at Spurs he wouldn’t find at the world’s most successful clubs is a certain level of patience. It’s not a stretch to suggest he’d be a one-and-done manager if he failed to win a single trophy during his first year at a Bayern or a Barca. With Tottenham, however, Pochettino has been allowed to promote from within, something he is clearly keen on and a practice that has yielded positive results.
Per Mike Walters of the Mirror, Pochettino spoke near the end of May about the importance of building around a group of homegrown British talents:
“I like them, because they are very honest on the pitch and they are very aggressive.
“That aggression is very difficult to find in another country.
“You can add new people and players from the outside, but the main group that comes from the academy is important because that is the identity of the club.”
The Tottenham boss made similar comments while speaking about the subject for the NBC Sports piece “To Dare Is To Do,” as he praised the aggressiveness of those in his squad and also stated he believes it’s difficult to locate that type of tenacity “in another country.” When you see or hear such words, it becomes difficult to imagine Pochettino taking on a gig at a club outside of England except for, maybe, at Altetico Madrid, which could be a lateral move a couple of years down the road depending on all that occurs.
Spurs are lucky to have Pochettino. Nobody can deny that. It should not, however, be understated what Tottenham have provided Pochettino over the past several years, during which he has added to his own resume and become an even more desirable property. You won’t find a better partnership between manager and club in England today, which is why it would behoove the two to continue growing together for the foreseeable future.