Why Mauricio Pochettino Returning To Tottenham Is Unlikely – For Now At Least

Former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino has got some Spurs fans excited after expressing an interest in one day returning to the North London club – but any move is unlikely at the moment.

It’s not the first time the Argentine has discussed his desire to come back to Spurs, but the club’s recent struggles under Ange Postecoglou have brought the issue into sharper focus.

Pochettino’s first stint in North London began in 2014, with him leading Spurs to numerous top-four finishes and a Champions League final.

Plenty of ers still have a soft spot for Poch, and would love him to come back to the club.

But while a return may be on the cards one day, there are a few reasons it looks unlikely he will be the next Spurs manager.

Where Is Pochettino Now?

Since leaving Spurs in 2019, Pochettino has had a few jobs.

He took over at Paris Saint-Germain in 2021, spending two years at the French giants.

In 2023, he returned to the Premier League with Chelsea but left after just one season in charge.

Now, he is the current head coach of the USA men’s national team.

Appointed in 2024, he signed a two-year deal and reportedly earns $4.6m per year.

And it’s this lucrative deal that will likely put a spanner in the works of any immediate Tottenham return.

Huge Compensation Needed For Pochettino Tottenham Return

According to reports, the United States Soccer Federation would require an enormous compensation fee if Pochettino were to leave the national side before the next World Cup.

The USA are t hosts for the 2026 tournament – alongside Canada and Mexico.

They are therefore hopeful of a good performance on home soil, and have put measures in place to ensure nobody poaches their head coach.

Currently, the biggest compensation fee ever paid for a manager in football is thought to be Chelsea’s £21m sum paid to Brighton to secure Graham Potter in 2022.

This is closely followed by the £21m Bayern Munich paid to RB Leipzig for Julian Nagelsmann in 2021.

But sources close to the USA side have stated anybody trying to lure Pochettino away from America would need to pay a similar figure, if not more.

Spurs are not the sort of club who would pay anywhere close to that for a manager, meaning Poch is probably staying put for a while.

Pochettino Leaves Tottenham Door Open

Despite being contracted to the USA for the time being, Pochettino’s recently itted he does wish to head back to Spurs eventually.

Last week, he said: “I am in the USA, so I am not going to talk about that now – but what I said then I still, after six years or five years, feel in my heart.

“Yes, I would like one day to come back.”

But the 53-year-old has made it clear he plans to lead the USA through their home World Cup.

“For us, the pressure is going to be there [at the World Cup] because we are a host,” he said.

“And then it’s a country where the mentality is about winning. In sport, in everything that Americans are involved in, they want to win.

“The players know it’s going to be massive pressure and now our president [Trump] likes to put pressure on, but it’s welcome. That means we are going to feel the adrenaline we need to feel. We are ready to deliver.”

USA Struggles Piling Pressure On Poch

While Pochettino’s huge contract means he won’t be poached, he could still end up at Tottenham if results don’t improve for the USA.

A 1-0 semi-final defeat to Panama in the CONCACAF semi-final was followed by a 2-1 loss to arch rivals Canada in the third-placed play-off.

These results have added pressure on Poch, whose record with the USA now stands at five wins and three losses.

But he has tried to downplay the losses, reinforcing the belief that his side are still building ahead of the World Cup.

He said: “I’ve seen some times that teams that were building to play in the World Cup, they were not good until around the World Cup.

“I want to send a message to the fans, don’t be pessimistic and don’t get bad feelings.

“I think we have time because if we will be in this situation in one year time, for sure, I will tell you, ‘Houston, we have a problem,’ no?” Pochettino said.

“In one year, if we’re talking about that, it’s because we have a big problem and we were not capable to discover, to try design a better strategy to provide to the team the capacity to play in a different way.

“I think we have time and I prefer that that happened today than [you] know, in one year.”

But with just over a year until the tournament, some fans are still apprehensive.