Mauricio Pochettino is killing several birds with one stone with his arrival at Paris Saint-Germain: fulfilling one of his dreams , getting to direct one of the best teams in the world and incidentally, almost with the certainty that at PSG, he will be able to get the first title of his career .
“Coaching Paris Saint-Germain is one of my dreams” . Those words were pronounced by the Argentine coach in April of 2016, when nor was it suspected that that goal would one day become a reality.
To their 48 years, the Argentine faces his greatest challenge on a bench , directing the multi-million dollar project in Paris, perhaps the club with the most money in the world , a task worthy of its prestige, not from his CV.
Because if Pochettino has built a good reputation, His record as a coach has not been released in any of his three previous experiences , something that will have more at his fingertips g thanks to the cast of stars led by Neymar and Kylian Mbappé.
But, above all, Murphy’s coach returns to a club where he triumphed as a player , although little now looks like the one who welcomed him between 2001 and 2003.
Mauricio Pochettino is the new manager of PSG and becomes the first NON-EUROPEAN coach to coach the French team in its entire history. 😮 https://t.co/XUe9r2B0w1 pic. twitter.com/tsmIWyLEau
– Sportscenter en español (@SportsCenter_nt) January 2, 2021
Then he left Espanyol, the club that had taken him to Europe following the call of Luis Fernández, who he was looking for a fierce patron for his defense.
From those years his warrior mentality, his sergeant personality that led him to become with the captain’s armband of a PSG who played in the French Cup final of 2003 and won the Intertoto of 1992.
That footprint continues on the banks of the Seine and is what has made him return to replace the German Thomas Tuchel , along with the imprint that he knew how to give Tottenham between 2013 and November 2019 , where without much financial means led the team to the final of the Cup of 2015 , to the runner-up of 2017 and, on everything, to the final of the Champions League of 2019.
That unexpected feat did not give him much credit because a few months later the bad results of the team forced him to give up the job to Portuguese Jose Mourinho .
In London they made it clear that Pochettino is one of those coaches who cares about the aesthetics of the game without disregarding the result , a task that he will be able to tackle better with the weapons of PSG than with the ones he had at Tottenham, Southampton or Espanyol, which was also his first experience on the bench.
Pochettino could be considered a disciple of Marcelo Bielsa, who trained him at Newell’s Ol d Boys, where he debuted in 1988 with 16 years and where in 1991 and 1992 won the title, which opened the doors to Europe .
The last Argentine coach who had gone through Ligue 1 was Bielsa in Lille (before OM), the same one that brought Pochettino to Newell’s and with whom he won the Clausura in 1992 and reached the final of the Libertadores against São Paulo. Now Poche will take his witness in France. pic.twitter.com/F4xxz98 suG
– Andrés Onrubia Ramos (@AndiOnrubia) January 2, 2021
Al Espanyol managed to save him in 2009 when gave the reins of a dying club and did the same in 2013 with Southampton , since after avoiding relegation took him to eighth position the following season, the best in its history.
In 2014, signed for Tottenham , a more important project that made it shine by propelling the club back to the top of the continent.
He lacked finishing that final against Liverpool, but his way to that Champions League final, which was played in Madrid, was a launching pad for his reputation. Above all, the semi-final comeback against Ajax Amsterdam, which Tottenham fans will not forget.
All this will now have to be put at the service of one of the most complex changing rooms in the world. Deal with the stars, r sponsor the ambitions of the Qatari owners , return the illusion to the stands, which lost it a bit after the final of the Champions League last year, provide PSG with a game identity that Tuchel could not find, … His tasks are not few, but at last Pochettino has a project with which he can release his record.
20 years later … A new challenge for Mauricio Pochettino at PSG: the Argentine DT was player of the Parisian team between 2001 to 2003. You signed a contract until 2023. pic.twitter.com/oZBj5lP8PF
– SportsCenter (@SC_ESPN) January 2, 2021