The reaction of Mauricio Pochettino to Erik ten Hag landing the Man Utd job is revealed, and Aston Villa are close to their first summer signing – both in all the latest Transfer Gossip.
POCHETTINO STUNNED BY TEN HAG TO MAN UTD
Mauricio Pochettino has reportedly been left feeling perplexed at Manchester United’s appointment of Erik ten Hag after suddenly learning the Dutchman was the favoured candidate.
United announced Ten Hag as their new manager on Thursday morning following weeks of deliberation. The Red Devils had their eye on the 52-year-old because of his fantastic spell at Ajax.
He will leave the Eredivisie club at the end of the season with potentially three league titles to his name. He also guided Ajax to the Champions League quarter-finals in 2019.
However, Paris Saint-Germain boss Pochettino was also a leading candidate for the Man Utd job. In fact, United reportedly enquired about bringing him in permanently before going after interim coach Ralf Rangnick.
And The Athletic has now claimed that the timing of the news that Ten Hag was United’s preferred candidate was ‘awkward’ for Pochettino.
Indeed, he was unaware of such developments and had been planning how he would turn the Old Trafford club around. The former Tottenham boss was supposedly studying player profiles, the club’s structure and Manchester as a city.
However, none of that mattered when the Red Devils advanced towards Ten Hag – reportedly to Pochettino‘s surprise.
The Athletic also details how United got to their decision. Club chiefs John Murtough, Darren Fletcher and Richard Arnold flew out to Amsterdam to meet Ten Hag at the end of March.
In one of a number of ‘direct’ talks, their impression of the manager grew stronger.
Similarly, Ten Hag‘s feelings towards United grew stronger.
He subsequently had a meeting with the Glazers, who own Man Utd, and that went smoothly too. But, reportedly at no point did the club tell Pochettino of their plans.
VILLA EYE…
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