Spurs: Mauricio Pochettino reportedly on the verge of being sacked

Just over 5 months after leading them to the Champions League final, Mauricio Pochettino is reportedly on the verge of being sacked by Spurs.

5 months ago, Spurs were the 2nd best team in Europe, falling just short of the Champions League title at the hands of Liverpool, who beat them 2-0 at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid. While the loss was most certainly tough to take, it was their first appearance in the final of Europe’s top competition, and it seemed that Spurs had plenty to look forward to, especially with the massive influx of cash that making it to the final brings. Oh, and they have a shiny new world-class stadium at their disposal too.

If you take a look at the Premier League table now, however, it’ll take a few seconds of scrolling to find Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs team, who currently sit in 14th place – a serious shock to many, including everyone at the club, I’m sure.

While there’s still plenty of time left in the Premier League season 2/3rd’s to be exact, Spurs are already out of the title race and might very well be out of the top 4 race very soon, unless they manage to drastically turn their form around.

Ever since Pochettino took over Spurs in 2014, their league positions have been: 5th, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. In short, they’ve challenged for the top 4 every single year and even finished runners-up when Chelsea lifted the title in 2017 under Antonio Conte.

They seemed to be heading in the right direction, and now things have fallen apart, to a point where Mauricio Pochettino, the man who is credited with bringing this club back to relevancy, is on the verge of losing his job, according to the Telegraph.

Pochettino is set to hold ‘crisis talks’ with Chairman Daniel Levy, and the Telegraph even reports that the playing squad is preparing themselves for a change in management.

While nothing is confirmed yet, it does seem as if this is the path things are heading towards, and it would be a surprise to see Pochettino in the Spurs dugout at the end of the season.

It’s only been a few months into the season, and yet Spurs have already suffered many embarrassing results, including a 7-2 beatdown at the hands of Bayern Munich, a 3-0 loss to Brighton, and a Carabao Cup exit to 4th tier Colchester.

Unless Levy and Pochettino can come to a mutual agreement over his departure, the club would have to pay a rather hefty £12.5 million to sack the Argentine, which might be costly to Spurs, who are still at the beginning of the lengthy stadium debt repayment process.

As for replacements, the likes of Massimiliano Allegri and Jose Mourinho are out of work, while several other young managers would certainly be intriguing pick-ups for the club.

Of course, it’s never easy to let go of somebody like Pochettino, who is currently in his 6th season at Spurs and has brought significant growth to the club. Reaching a Champions League final would have been an unrealistic dream for Spurs fans even a few years ago, but football is a cut-throat business, and Pochettino simply isn’t delivering the goods at the moment.