Mauricio Pochettino will make his long-awaited return to football with French champions Paris Saint-Germain according to reports on Thursday morning.
The former Spurs head coach is the French clubs first-choice replacement for Thomas Tuchel who was sacked this morning. The German coach led the French giants to two consecutive Ligue 1 titles in his time in charge of the Parisians along with one Coupe de France in 2019 and one Coupe de la Ligue in 2020.
The news of Tuchel’s departure may come as a surprise to many, with the former Borussia Dortmund and Mainz manager taking PSG beyond the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League for the first time last season, eventually falling to Bayern Munich 1-0 in the final. He has also guided PSG to the last 16 of this year’s competition, having topped a group that contained 2020 semi-finalist’s RB Leipzig and Manchester United.
While terminating Tuchel’s contract may well come as a shock for PSG supporters, the club’s pursuit of Pochettino was quite predictable. The owners at the club have been long-time admirers of the former Spurs and Espanyol boss. The Argentinian failed to win a major trophy during his five-year spell at the North London club, but is widely celebrated for transforming the entire club during his time in charge.
This will be Pochettino’s first job in football since his dismissal at Spurs in November of last year. He will be tasked with overturning a one-point gap in Ligue 1 to current leaders Lyon as well as trying to navigate a tough last 16 encounter with Barcelona in the Champions League in February.
