Tottenham Hotspur’s hopes of bringing former boss Mauricio Pochettino back to the club appear to have taken a major dent, should they opt to end Ange Postecoglou’s tenure in north London.
Pressure has been growing on the Australian during a largely woeful second half of the campaign for a Spurs side who sit 14th in the Premier League table and are clinging on to Europa League glory to salvage something from their season.
Injuries have played an obvious part in Tottenham‘s struggles, although the manner of some of the 15 defeats they have suffered in the league this season has led to speculation that Postecoglou’s time could be up – unless he can secure silverware via Europe.
The likes of Andoni Iraola, Thomas Frank and Edin Terzic continued to be mooted as potential Spurs options, but Pochettino got tongues wagging again in a recent interview when he was asked about one day returning to the club.
Speaking to Sky Sports, the current USA national team boss said: “Look, when I left the club I always remember one interview I said I would like one day to come back to Tottenham and that is of course.
“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.”
Old photos of Pochettino sharing a coffee with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy that emerged on social media also served to spike the rumours of a return for a manager who guided the club to second and third-placed finishes in the Premier League and a Champions League final before his exit in 2019.
However, BBC Sport has been digging deeper regarding the actual chances of a return for Pochettino any time soon, and they are not looking good.
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Pochettino is currently preparing USA for a home World Cup in 2026, which is just 15 months away, although his side have lost successive Concacaf Nations League matches in the past week to Panama and Canada.
However, the BBC report states that the prospect of the 53-year-old walking away from his USMNT team role and heading back to north London is highly unlikely given the compensation involved.
A source told the BBC that the United States Soccer Federation would be owed ‘one of the biggest financial compensation fees in football history’ if Pochettino was to leave for Spurs – or any other team for that matter – before the next World Cup.
Chelsea’s £21million payment to Brighton to land Graham Potter after sacking Thomas Tuchel in 2022 and Bayern Munich’s £21m to RB Leipzig to pave the way for Julian Nagelsmann’s appointment in 2021 are, according to reports, ranked as the two largest managerial compensation packages in history.
Pochettino signed a two-year contract to head to north America in September, with multiple reports stating he earns £4.6m a year.
However, it’s understood the sum US Soccer would recoup if Pochettino leaves before next year’s tournament ‘extends way beyond his salary and much closer to the amount Chelsea and Bayern, respectively, paid to land Potter and Nagelsmann’.
Assuming Levy would be unwilling to pay that potentially huge amount in compensation, that would leave Spurs turning to their other targets instead – if they do indeed pull the trigger on Postecoglou.
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