Discussions between Paris Saint-Germain and former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino are at an advanced stage; Thomas Tuchel was sacked by PSG on Thursday, four months after taking them to the Champions League final
Friday 25 December 2020 21:10, UK
Mauricio Pochettino is close to becoming the next manager of Paris Saint-Germain.
Discussions with the former Tottenham, Southampton and Espanyol boss are said to be at an advanced stage and it is now about trying to reach a total agreement between the parties.
Thomas Tuchel was sacked by PSG on Thursday, four months after taking them to the Champions League final.
Pochettino, dismissed by Spurs in November 2019, is set to beat Thiago Motta, with whom the PSG has had contact in recent days, to the job, according to Sky in Italy.
The Argentine, who played for PSG from 2001 to 2003, told RMC Sport in 2016: "Coach one day at PSG, that would make me happy. It is a dream of mine. It is a club that I follow a lot. I try to watch their matches. Especially in the Champions League. Come back to PSG one day, why not?"
He told Sky Sports in November when asked where his next role will be: "I don't know. I'm not going to close any door. I learnt when I was really, really young, [Pochettino's former coach] Jorge Griffa would say, 'Mauricio, football is going to dictate your way'.
"And I am waiting to feel what is the right project for us, which is the right way to take.
"My energy is full, I'd love to be involved in the game but at the same time I need to understand that at the moment is a good moment that you need to wait.
"You need to wait for the right project and for sure football is going to bring what football wants and we need to be open and to accept or not."
Tuchel's departure comes four months after he guided the club to their first Champions League final where they lost to Bayern Munich in Lisbon.
The German replaced Unai Emery on a two-year contract in June 2018, and signed an extension last May which would have seen him stay in Paris until the end of the current campaign.
However, in October there was a public fallout over player recruitment with the club's sporting director Leonardo.
Tuchel said: "We lose too many players on free transfers. It is too, too much. We cannot ask this squad the same thing as we did last season."
The following day Leonardo voiced his disapproval of Tuchel's comments, saying "you have to respect the people above you".
"I didn't like his comments, the club didn't like them either," he said.
"We have to understand the moment we are going through. If someone is not happy, it is easy - we can talk. But if you decide to stay, you have to respect the people above you."
PSG beat Strasbourg 4-0 in the league on Wednesday night, and are next in action against Saint-Etienne on January 6.
