Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that he would like to return to Tottenham Hotspur at some stage in the future.
The 53-year-old was relieved of his duties as Spurs manager in 2019 less than six months after leading the club to their first-ever Champions League final, having previously steered the North Londoners to three consecutive top-three finishes in the Premier League.
After more than five years in charge of Tottenham, Pochettino spent a season in charge of both Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, before stepping into international management with the United States in September last year.
USA will co-host the 2026 World Cup and Pochettino is under contract with the Stars and Stripes until after the much-anticipated tournament concludes.
“I think to host the World Cup is an amazing experience. Then with the country that we are talking about, the USA, I think it’s amazing,” Pochettino told Sky Sports. “Too many good things appear in this moment and of course one of the reasons to take the job was because hosting the World Cup is very close. It isn’t waiting four years to play the World Cup, it was less than two years.
“I am so excited because I think the decision was good, I am enjoying it a lot and I think it’s so exciting to discover every single day different things to work on and different emotions. It’s a completely different job than in the past, a mystery because it’s a completely different world but I think we are really, really enjoying that situation.”
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Was Pochettino ever close to becoming England manager?
Before becoming USA boss, Pochettino had been tipped to succeed Gareth Southgate as England manager before a different foreign manager in the form of Thomas Tuchel was confirmed as the new Three Lions boss last year.
Asked if becoming England manager was ever a possibility, the Argentine said: “It’s always about the timing. I was talking with my former president Daniel Levy [Spurs chairman] and he says always football is about timings and he always told me, ‘Mauricio, always it’s timing’.
“It’s true because he has experience in football and it’s a privilege to be head coach of the England national team but the timings sometimes are not in the same, in the moment that you can be available like this and this option disappears.”
Pochettino maintains “very good relationship” with Spurs’ Levy
Pochettino has acknowledged that he still maintains a “very good relationship” with Spurs chief Levy, almost six years on from his sacking in North London.
“He is always there and he’s going to be there,” said Pochettino. “It’s another thing to take professional decisions. It’s true after nearly six years with all that we lived together, it was tough because of all the ups and downs and emotional things that we lived.
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“I’ve seen always it’s difficult in football that that doesn’t affect all this type of situation in your relationship. For us, we split very well. One thing was professional, another personal and now, like the day after we left Tottenham, we keep always a very, very good relationship.”
Pochettino: ‘I would like one day to come back to Tottenham’
Pochettino has recently emerged as one of the bookmakers’ favourites to become Tottenham head coach for a second time amidst uncertainty over the future of under-pressure boss Ange Postecoglou, who suffered his 15th Premier League defeat of the season at Fulham last weekend and sees his side languishing in 14th place in the table.
Asked if he could he ever see himself back at Spurs, Pochettino said: “Look, when I left the club I always remember one interview I said I would like one day to come back to Tottenham.
Pochettino paused and continued: “I am in the USA, I am not going to no, I’m not going to talk about that, but what I said then still after six years or five years, I still feel in my heart that, yes, I would like one day to come back. We see the timing, like Daniel said.”
The Argentine has won five of his opening six games in charge of USA and is currently preparing his team for a CONCACAF Nations League semi-final clash with Panama on Thursday.
