According to the Guardian, Tottenham are about to appoint Southampton boss Mauricio Pochettino as their new boss before the end of this week.
The Argentinian has been continuously linked with the Spurs job since the north London club sacked Tim Sherwood earlier this month.
It looks like Pochettino will be the next Spurs manager, with the 42-year-old now 1/10 to be the next Tottenham boss.
Outstanding
When Southampton sacked popular boss Nigel Adkins and replaced him with a unknown quantity a year and a half ago, there were a lot of questions asked of then chairman Nicola Cortese.
The decision to appoint Pochettino was an inspired one though. Saints finished 14th in Pochettino’s first half season in charge and this season and this season Saints finished in eighth. Pochettino turned Saints into a team that nobody wanted to play.
The former-Espanyol boss introduced a high-pressing, possession based style of football which was effective and easy on the eye. He was also not scared of using the young players that the Saints academy seems to produce on a regular basis.
Stars
If reports are to be believed, Pochettino does not believe that the Saints can push on to the next level, as he thinks the club could cash in on their big players this summer. Captain Adam Lallana was is stellar form last season and earned a place in the England squad for this summer’s World Cup.
Lallana’s form has attracted the interest of some of the clubs further up the Premier League table, with Liverpool heavily linked with the £25million-rated midfield star. Lallana’s Saints and England teammate Luke Shaw had been linked with a £30million move to Manchester United.
That move has now been put in doubt by French full-back Patrice Evra renewing his contract at Old Trafford. However, Chelsea has also been linked with a move for Shaw, with veteran full-back Ashley Cole expected to leave Stamford Bridge this summer when his contract expires.
They are not the only Saints players being linked with a summer exit though, as centre-back Dejan Lovren and Morgan Schneiderlin are also both believed to be interesting top four clubs. Pochettino’s exit may just lead to a mass exodus of players from St. Marys as well.
This summer could be a difficult one to be a Southampton fan, as it looks like the club are losing their highly-rated boss and could lose some of their players as well.
Style
Tottenham fans expect their team to play positive attacking football and Pochettino’s style of play could fit in perfectly at Spurs. The players at Tottenham could also fit ideally into the Argentinian’s way of playing football.
Tottenham have a lot of players that are good on the ball. Their squad has certainly been expensively assembled and with the right manager they may be able to start to produce better results.
Promising
Mauricio Pochettino is obviously ambitious and I think it is quite clear that Spurs are better equipped to challenge for the Champions League places next season. Pochettino is one of the most promising up-and-coming bosses in the Premier League.
He has a clear football philosophy and a determination to stick to it. It seems to be a very effective philosophy and if he can transfer that philosophy to a club with the resources of Spurs, then it could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Stability
Tottenham now needs a period of stability. It seemed that last season neither Andre Villas-Boas nor Tim Sherwood were the right man to help Tottenham achieve their objectives. If Tottenham are to be successful they need to find some stability.
However, that means the Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy and the clubs hierarchy giving the next boss time to get it right. This does not always happen in the Premier League.
If Pochettino is the next Spurs boss, as expected, then the clubs hierarchy needs to allow the Argentinian the time to instil his ideas into his players, if not then Spurs could be in the same predicament in the near future, no nearer to their objective of making the top-four.
Is Mauricio Pochettino the right man to move Tottenham forward?
