Could Mauricio Pochettino be the next Manchester United boss?

Mauricio Pochettino has done a stellar job at Tottenham and is now being linked with Manchester United

Earlier this week there was widespread speculation linking Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino to a move to Manchester United in the summer.

This speculation may just be rumour, but if I was a Spurs fan I would be worried about the possible departure of the Argentine.

Highly-impressive at Saints and Spurs

The former Espanyol boss has enjoyed a highly-impressive Premier League career thus far.

He took Southampton from relegation battlers to a team that played expansive passing football and finished comfortably in midtable.

He also nurtured a number of the young players at St Marys, who then moved on for major transfer fees. His work earned him a step-up in club stature to Tottenham, where the Argentine has steadied the ship, got rid of a lot of deadwood and made some shrewd signings.

Again he has nurtured the young players at the club and is developing a vibrant young team that looks like it could be on the cusp of something special.

A big decision to make

If Manchester United did make an approach for the talented 43-year-old, then the Argentinian would have a big decision to make. He is highly-ambitious and the current Tottenham hierarchy are not exactly famed for making transfer funds readily available.

However, Pochettino has built a team full of highly promising young players and the team has immense potential for the future. The club has also shown big ambition in building a new 60,000 capacity stadium that that Spurs are scheduled to move into in 2018. That costly project may put a dent in the clubs transfer budget for the next couple of years.

The future looks bright for Tottenham and their young team, but the club may find it difficult to give their boss the finances he may need to take the team to the next level. He has done a tremendous job so far in building a team, whether he can keep picking up bargains like Dele Alli remains to be clear.

Manchester United are currently lower than Tottenham in the Premier League table, but they obviously have a more trophy-laden history, as they have won more English top-flight titles than any other club.

The Red Devils owners have also heavily backed boss Louis van Gaal in the transfer market and the veteran Dutch boss has splurged a lot of money, with little progression noticeable in the team’s league position or style.

From the outside looking in Van Gaal is losing the faith of the Manchester United supporters with his dull brand of football currently winning very few fans.

Pochettino would definitely get the financial backing of the United board, which for an ambitious young boss could be an attractive proposition.

One of the alternatives

It seems if Louis van Gaal continues in a similar vein he is a dead man walking at Old Trafford. This summer will be a big one for United.

European heavyweight bosses Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho have been talked about as possible replacements for United’s current boss, but both bosses have their negative points.

Guardiola is a fantastic coach. He is an innovator and by all accounts a boss that players want to play and give everything for. However, there is one major problem for United they are apparently not at the front of the queue for the former-Barcelona boss.

United’s arch-rivals Manchester City are currently favourites to nab Guardiola this summer at odds of 1/ 4. Chelsea and Arsenal are also shorter odds in the betting to clinch the signature of one of the world’s most sought after bosses.

Jose Mourinho is also an obvious option. The Portuguese boss, despite his struggles with Chelsea this season, is still regarded as one of the best bosses in world football. Like Guardiola he is a serial collector of silverware.

The players love him and the fans at Chelsea certainly seemed to love the former-Real Madrid boss. The downside to Mourinho is his apparent courting of controversy. United are no strangers to controversial bosses though, Sir Alex Ferguson was no shrinking violet himself.

Pochettino does offer a very plausible extra option for United, but is currently regarded as an outsider for the job at Old Trafford. He is yet to win trophies in his career, yet keeps picking up fans because of his style of football.

Manchester United fans are accustomed to watching exciting, attacking football. Pochettino would no doubt give them that. For now though the Argentinian will be concentrating on Tottenham and making sure Spurs finish as high up in the Premier League table as possible this season.

At the moment there is a big possibly that Pochettino’s Spurs will finish above United in the top-flight table, not a bad thing to have on his CV for the future for the Argentine.

Could Mauricio Pochettino be the next Manchester United boss?