Where next? Five clubs Mauricio Pochettino could pitch up at after PSG push

Mauricio Pochettino is back on the market after being shown the door by PSG. Despite getting le sac, the former Tottenham manager will still be one of the most in-demand coaches.

Here are five clubs Pochettino might turn up at next…

Real Madrid
It may seem odd to go from being sacked by PSG to the next manager of the European champions. But Real, like everyone else, will put Pochettino’s dismissal into context. You have to be a spectacularly bad manager to fail at PSG and for it all to be your fault.

Pochettino still has plenty of credit in the bank from his previous body of work and Real will judge him on that as much as the last 18 months in Paris.

Of course, there isn’t a job available at the Bernabeu. There isn’t a vacancy anywhere right now that Pochettino would fancy filling, but a few months off will doubtless do the manager some good, especially having spent most of his PSG reign away from his family. Mrs Pochettino and the children have stayed in London. If they didn’t fancy Paris, there’s no guarantee that Madrid would appeal either.

But if Real come calling, it would be a job Pochettino would have to consider. Carlo Ancelotti can’t and won’t go on forever – the general consensus seems to be that this will be his final season in charge. Since leaving Milan in 2009, all of Ancelotti’s six jobs since have been, at the most, two-season gigs.

If Ancelotti sees out the full season, the picture will probably have changed. Pochettino may have found employment elsewhere or another strong contender could have emerged. But without a drastic altering of the landscape, Poch will be in the running to replace another manager who left PSG and thrived.

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Everton
Pochettino is unlikely to want too much time away since he had the whole of 2020 off between the Spurs and PSG jobs. And it seems the Premier League would be his preferred destination.

Right now, though, the clubs Poch might consider as a project are all fixed up. So the Argentine coach is left waiting for one of the current Premier League managers to suffer the misfortune of being sacked or mutually consented. Which club is likely to be looking for a manager soon?

Southampton, where Pochettino started his English managerial career, could be recruiting if Ralph Hasenhuttl can’t inspire a better start to this season than how they finished the last one. And the fixture list is not kind.

Frank…