Tottenham Hotspur sacks Mauricio Pochettino; Jose Mourinho reportedly a candidate to take over

Joey Gulino
Updated
Mauricio Pochettino has been sacked as manager of Tottenham Hotspur. (Photo by IAN KINGTON/AFP via Getty Images)
Mauricio Pochettino has been sacked as manager of Tottenham Hotspur. (Photo by IAN KINGTON/AFP via Getty Images)

Mauricio Pochettino has been sacked as manager of Tottenham Hotspur, according to an official club statement issued Tuesday.

Spurs are off to a rough start this season in the Premier League, sitting 14th in the table with just three wins from 12 matches. Things are going better in the Champions League, as Tottenham can clinch advancement to the knockout stage with a win at home next week over group minnow Olympiacos.

“We were extremely reluctant to make this change and it is not a decision the Board has taken lightly, nor in haste,” club chairman Daniel Levy said in the statement. “Regrettably domestic results at the end of last season and beginning of this season have been extremely disappointing.”

Mauricio Pochettino’s success at Tottenham

Last season, Spurs won just three times over the final three months in the Premier League. That said, Pochettino guided them to the Champions League final in white-knuckle fashion, and they’ve become a top-four mainstay since his appointment in May 2014, finishing as high as second in 2017. The only time Pochettino missed the top four was in his first season, when the club finished fifth and also made the League Cup final.

Levy went on to say Spurs have “a talented squad” that needs to “re-energise and look to deliver a positive season for our supporters.”

Many have opined that Pochettino has taken Tottenham as far as he can, given the club’s traditionally tight fiscal approach. The 47-year-old Argentine is a gifted manager who will surely have no shortage of suitors, with current managerial instability at Bayern Munich, Manchester United and other European giants.

Spurs, meanwhile, have decided to pull the trigger on his dismissal at a curious moment, exiting instead of entering an international break and with a trip to West Ham less than three days away.

Jose Mourinho a candidate for Spurs?

It didn’t take long for rumors to fire up over who could replace Pochettino, and one of them’s a biggie.

Reporter Fabrizio Romano says Jose Mourinho is being considered for the job, and that the mercurial Portuguese would be open to the opportunity.

The Independent in the United Kingdom also reported RB Leipzig boss Julian Nagelsmann and Leicester City’s Brendan Rodgers are candidates.

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