Why Mauricio Pochettino should remain at Tottenham despite rumours regarding his future

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Tottenham’s impressive Premier League season currently sees them sitting second, ahead of established premier league title contenders such as Arsenal and Man City. As a result of this, Pochettino has been the subject of many rumours considering his whereabouts come the start of next season. Links with Chelsea, Man United and even Real Madrid have surfaced, and all are attractive propositions in their own right, but his current Tottenham team have excelled beyond all expectations this season. Although there are a large number of reasons why Pochettino may jump ship if offered one of the bigger jobs football has to offer, there are also a number of reasons that Pochettino should see through his project at Tottenham.

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Firstly, Pochettino has such a talented squad at his disposal, one that he has moulded himself in conjunction with the backroom staff, such as Paul Mitchell the head of recruitment who followed him from Southampton, that will only grow under his leadership. Within his Tottenham squad, Pochettino has a delicate blend of young exciting footballers like Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane and his more senior players, who themselves are not old, such as Toby Alderweireld, Hugo Lloris and Jan Vertonghen. The one thing in common between the young and old players at the club is that Pochettino is getting the best out of all of them. The players want to play for Pochettino and the club, meaning they all work extremely hard within Pochettino’s high press system, as shown by Tottenham completing the highest average amounts of sprints in the Premier League this season. If this squad continues to play together, with the additions of academy prospects such as Harry Winks and Joshua Onomah and a few astute additions from the market, Pochettino would be foolish to leave a squad of his own creation with such high potential, that is evidently going places.

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In addition, Pochettino is renowned for demanding high standards from his players, on the pitch and the training ground, which led to demise of many ‘maverick’ players from Tottenham since his arrival. Players such as Emmanuel Adebayor, Andros Townsend and Aaron Lennon all showed on numerous occasions they had the talent to be in Pochettino’s squad, but they did not work hard enough, and were subsequently moved on. If Pochettino were to move onto a club of that stature it could lead to many clashes with players who do not put in the work, and Pochettino may quickly become unpopular trying to axe very talented players from these clubs due to their lacking work ethic. Although it has worked for him at Tottenham and Southampton, he would be dealing with bigger egos at other clubs, making it much more difficult for him to move on the players who do not buy into his philosophy.

If Pochettino were to move to a bigger club abroad, many England fans should be visibly disappointed, as well as Tottenham fans. Although this doesn’t affect Pochettino directly in terms of a potential move, it’s a reason that should see many English football fans wanting him to stay at Tottenham. At Southampton first, and then something he has continued to do at Tottenham is bring young English talent through. Since Pochettino has managed in England, more players have made their debut for England under his guidance than any manager. What is even more impressive is the English contingent playing such a key role in Tottenham’s title charge, with Harry Kane, Eric Dier, Dele Alli, Danny Rose, Kyle Walker all regulars and players such as Ryan Mason on the fringes bodes extremely well for the national team and the hopes of pursuing any silverware on an international stage. These players may well have come through without Pochettino at the helm, but Pochettino has given them the chance to prove themselves on the big stage regularly, which has led many of them to excel.

The greatest example of Pochettino trusting young English talent would be Dele Alli. Alli had played a lot of senior football in League One before joining up with the Tottenham squad, but just a couple of months into his Tottenham career, on the back of a string of important contributions to the team, was thrust into the spotlight after he scored an unbelievable goal in his first start for England in November against France. As discussed, Pochettino leaving White Hart Lane would have an effect that would resonate throughout English football, not just one that would be felt within Tottenham.

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Pochettino has grown to be adored by the Tottenham faithful, and rightly so for not only the results they produce on the pitch, but the way in which its done. Inevitably, this leads to clubs of a bigger stature to come calling for Pochettino. Whilst it may be very alluring to Pochettino to try himself at a bigger club and he may not want to waste such a big opportunity, but the temptation to carry through his project at Tottenham and push them to their full potential should surely be just as attractive to Pochettino as the bigger clubs that might be able to offer him more money. The general consensus is that after this season Tottenham will fall back into being just a top four contender, but if Pochettino stays, the framework he has put in place over his tenure gives Tottenham the opportunity to make sure that this season is not the last season they push for the title.

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