Tottenham Hotspur were unable to hire Mauricio Pochettino in March when they canned Igor Tudor shortly after hiring him to replace Thomas Frank, as Spurs needed a top manager immediately to save them from relegation. Although the fans badly wanted Poch, because he is currently managing the United States men's national team before the 2026 World Cup - in North America, no less - he was unable to move and the USMNT were obviously not going to let him double dip with so much (financially, included) on the line.
So Spurs went out and hired Roberto De Zerbi to both be an important short and long term upgrade at the club, and, so far, the Italian manager has paid major dividends with Spurs now needing just one point in their next two games against Chelsea or Everton to save themselves from Premier League relegation - and doom another historic London club, rivals West Ham United, to the EFL Championship instead.
But Pochettino is always loved around these parts, and in a recent interview with Tom Allnut of The Times, his former superstar center back Toby Alderweireld predicted that Poch will one day manage Tottenham Hotspur again.
Tottenham chose De Zerbi now over waiting for Pochettino
The legendary fiery Belgian defender said of the best modern Tottenham manager, “For sure he will go back to Tottenham one day. He wants it, the fans want it — I don’t know the board — but I think when the manager and the fans want it, it will happen. He wants to come back to finish his job.”
There is nothing bold about this prediction from Toby Alderweireld, especially since Mauricio Pochettino has always publicly praised Tottenham and spoken fondly about the club, including his desire to one day come back and coach them. He seemed almost solemn when he learned that the window had shut after Spurs had to hire Roberto De Zerbi instead, though it appears Vinai Venkatesham and Johan Lange had the controversial Italian manager ranked No. 1 on their short list all along anyway.
Spurs fans will actually hope the Pochettino reunion talk doesn't start up again too soon, because they would like to see De Zerbi actually be a positive for them and stick around at a club for more than just one or two full seasons at a time. The early returns on RDZ are good, but you always do get the feeling, like Alderweireld does, that Pochettino is going to come home again one day.
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