17 years after his departure as a player, Mauricio Pochettino is expected in Paris as a coach.
The news is not yet confirmed, but various sources announce that the Argentine will be Thomas Tuchel's successor.
The opportunity to rediscover the man, the player, the coach.
Follower of Marco Bielsa
When he made his professional debut in 1988 with the Argentinian club Newell's Old Boys, Mauricio Pochettino played under the orders of a certain Marcelo Bielsa, his mentor.
"I will always love him, I will always be with him, he is an important person for me and he helped me to build my career as a player", he said recently of the man who is nicknamed "El Loco" ".
Affection shared by the current Leeds coach, who said this after the dismissal of his student at Tottenham: “I appreciate and respect Mauricio a lot.
The biggest clubs will try to hire him. "
The 48-year-old technician made his own way, however, refusing to copy the Bielsa model.
“I spent hours and hours working with experienced coaches and I learned a lot from each of them, without ever having tried to copy one in particular, he said in 2016 on the site of UEFA.
I wanted to build something that is my own, something innovative, that belongs only to me.
You have to create your own ideas, your own playing philosophy. "
Ideas and a philosophy that seduced Paris.
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He played at PSG ...
During his second visit to Paris, between December 2000 and June 2003, Luis Fernandez bet on the Spanish and Spanish-speaking market.
Period during which he notably attracted Pochettino from Espanyol Barcelona, where he played from 1994 to January 2001 and from January 2004 at the end of his career, in 2006 (281 matches, 14 goals).
A transfer estimated at around 35 million ... francs at the time, or 5.34 million euros.
If they had agreed to let him go, it is because the leaders of the Catalan club were facing a complicated financial situation.
The Argentine central defender will in any case have spent two and a half seasons in the capital, wearing the red and blue jersey 95 times (6 goals).
With him, PSG had notably finished fourth in Ligue 1 at the end of the 2001-02 season and reached the final of the Coupe de France in 2003. After Paris and before returning to Espanyol to finish his career, Pochettino has also carried the colors of Bordeaux (16 matches, 1 goal).
... and said "dreaming" of coming back as a trainer
While he was stationed at Tottenham and Laurent Blanc was in Paris, in 2016, Mauricio Pochettino said this on
RMC
: “It's true that I would like to be the coach of PSG.
It is part of my dreams.
So why not?
I follow the news of PSG. "
He will quickly find himself immersed in it.
Note that the native of Murphy in Argentina was also linked to Tottenham as a coach as he had been to Spain, as a player.
“I want to stay here my whole career,” he said in 2018. Pochettino also explained that he “dreams” of coaching Newell's Old Boys and being Argentina coach.
"These are two of my dreams, like bringing Tottenham as high as possible," he said to
Marca
, before facing Barça in the Champions League.
And precisely, coaching FC Barcelona is not (at all) part of his career plan.
"I have a lot of friends in Barcelona, at Barça, and I have a lot of respect for them, but our opposite courses and it's impossible," he said, the former Espanyol.
Recall that the next opponent of PSG (and Pochettino) in C1 is… Barça, on February 16 and March 10, in the round of 16.
Virgin prize list
As a coach, Mauricio Pochettino has won nothing, not a single trophy, not a small cup.
Although, having taken Tottenham out of the "lose" in which the club had been stuck for many years, having brought Spurs to the final of C1, it is well worth a title ... Remember that he has coached three clubs so far, Espanyol (January 2009-November 2012), Southampton (January 2013-2014) and Tottenham (2014-November 2019).
As a player, he participated in the conquest of the Spanish Cup in 2000 at Espanyol Barcelona.
His only career title.
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With Argentina at the 2002 World Cup
From March 1999 against the Netherlands (1-1) to November 2002 against Japan (2-0 victory), Mauricio Pochettino honored 22 caps with the Argentine national team (2 goals).
Holder in defense with Walter Samuel, Diego Placente or Javier Zanetti, the former Parisian had participated in the short passage of the Albiceleste at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.
Gabriel Batistuta, Juan Sebastian Veron, Diego Simeone, Ariel Ortega and company had hardly shone there and had even taken the door in the first round, like the France team.
After an inaugural victory against Nigeria (1-0), the Argentines had notably yielded against England (0-1) on a penalty caused by… Mauricio Pochettino for a foul on Michael Owen at the entrance to the surface, and then conceded a draw against Sweden (1-1).
Note that said Pochettino was close to equalizing against the Three Lions, head.
He ran into a great David Seaman on this one ...
From Fernandez to Kombouaré, they played and trained at PSG (slideshow)
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In images, in pictures
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