Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed that Tottenham Hotspur reached out to him last season as the club scrambled to avoid an unprecedented relegation battle, but says poor timing prevented any return to north London.
Spurs dismissed manager Thomas Frank in February following a dismal run of form that left the team perilously close to the drop zone. Igor Tudor was brought in as a stopgap, but his tenure proved even less successful, with the Italian failing to win any of his five Premier League matches in charge. By late March, Tottenham sat just a single point above the relegation places, facing the alarming prospect of falling into the second tier for the first time in almost half a century.
Throughout that turbulent period, supporters at the stadium repeatedly chanted Pochettino's name, hopeful that their former manager might abandon his role with the United States national team to rescue the club he once guided to a Champions League final. That reunion never materialized. Instead, Pochettino stayed at the helm of the USMNT and guided them to the round of 16 at this summer's home World Cup.
Speaking about the situation, Pochettino acknowledged that Tottenham did indeed get in touch with him during the crisis, but explained that his commitments made any move impossible at the time.
"The problem was that the timings were never the best," Pochettino said. "When I was free, I never received a contact. And then when I was working, I received a contact, but I cannot make the decision to come back. It was a little bit unlucky."
He left the door open for a future reunion, suggesting circumstances could eventually align in his favor, though he stopped short of making any firm predictions.
"Maybe one day the stars will align, and it can happen," he added. "But the problem was that when we wanted and we were free, we didn't receive the approach. When we were working, we received the approach."
This is not the first time Pochettino's name has been floated in connection with a Tottenham return. Speculation followed him during his time in charge of Paris Saint-Germain, and again in 2023 before he eventually took the reins at Chelsea instead. Despite the recurring links, the Argentine downplayed any notion that Tottenham's approach last season carried special significance, framing it instead as a byproduct of the club's desperate circumstances following the failed appointments of Frank and Tudor.
"They were under pressure to bring another coach, to give him the possibility to stay for a long period like happened with De Zerbi," Pochettino explained. "It was an obvious situation. In this moment, they called everyone, they called all the coaches. Free and not free."
He reiterated that his priorities lay elsewhere at the time, given his focus on preparing the USMNT for their home World Cup campaign.
"If I was free, of course I come," Pochettino said. "But I wasn't free, I was preparing for the World Cup."
With Tottenham now under different management and Pochettino still contracted to the United States Soccer Federation, any potential reunion remains speculative for now. However, his comments confirm that serious contact was made during one of the club's most turbulent periods in recent memory, keeping alive the long-running narrative linking the former Spurs boss with an eventual return to the club he led for more than five years.
Based on reporting from Standard Sport.