Mauricio Pochettino\u2019s explanation of his release clause has added fresh weight to the criticism surrounding his departure from the U.S. men\u2019s national team.<\/p>\n
The manager has admitted he rejected a federation plan to tie the clause to a limited list of clubs, preferring instead to keep the door open to any interested suitor. That detail has done little to ease the suspicion that his commitment to the USMNT was never as firm as it first appeared.<\/p>\n
Pochettino had already given supporters reason for concern before leaving. He had made no secret of his wish to return to the Premier League, and even held talks with Italian side AC Milan on the eve of the World Cup. After guiding the team to the round of 16, he then delayed signing his new deal for weeks before eventually accepting a four-year contract.<\/p>\n
A little over three months into that agreement, the 54-year-old has now acknowledged that he could not turn down United\u2019s approach. The extraction was made easier by a release clause worth in the region of $10 million, and Pochettino insisted the arrangement was sensible for both sides.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe clause is a clause that was good for both parties, no?\u201d he said during a sit down with F\u00fatbol de Primera, where he appeared more composed and smiled through the interview.<\/p>\n
He explained that the federation had wanted certain clubs named, but he refused to narrow the options. \u201cI\u2019ll reveal something to you, the federation did want to include some clubs. But I said, \u2018No.\u2019 Because you never, ever know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they had forced me to put down the name of a club, Manchester United would have been there,\u201d Pochettino added.<\/p>\n
U.S. Soccer has not shown outward anger over the exit. At his farewell on Friday, he was joined by U.S. Soccer CEO JT Batson and federation president Cindy Parlow Cone, in a clear display of support.<\/p>\n
Pochettino maintained that the move was handled properly: \u201cThe truth is that at all times, we were clear: When Manchester United appeared and contacted our representatives, we were always clear from the first moment. Everything was good, the federation understood it, too. I think things were done as they had to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pochettino\u2019s United clause comments have intensified doubts over how firmly he was tied to the USMNT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22471,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179],"tags":[59,182],"class_list":["post-22472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","tag-featured","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}