Mauricio Pochettino sought to deflect recent speculation linking him to Real Madrid while under contract as U.S. men\u2019s national team manager. Asked about the reports, Pochettino coyly stated \u201cthere are many rumors\u201d.<\/p>\n
When pressed on the Madrid links on El Chiringuito he added: \u201cThere are many rumors, almost always negative, so as long as they\u2019re pleasant …\u201d He also addressed his relationship with the club president, saying: \u201cI always\u00a0maintain a very good relationship with almost all clubs, not just with Madrid ,\u201d when questioned about his relationship with P\u00e9rez.<\/p>\n
Pochettino\u2019s contract with the Stars and Stripes runs through the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where he hopes to lead the team to glory largely on home soil. The draft of a strong summer from the USMNT would increase the likelihood U.S. Soccer would extend his deal beyond the tournament, but any new contract might not prevent a return to club management.<\/p>\n
The former Tottenham Hotspur boss has long expressed a desire for a second stint in north London. Tottenham\u2019s current position makes that possibility more plausible. Spurs sit 16th in the Premier League with 29 points from 29 games, only one point clear of the drop zone. Igor Tudor, who replaced Thomas Frank, has lost his first four games in charge\u2014three Premier League, one Champions League, \u2014the worst start for a Tottenham manager in club history.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Real Madrid\u2019s internal situation has shifted. There was a reality in which Arbeloa kept his place on the Bernab\u00e9u\u2019s touchline after Xabi Alonso\u2019s dismissal and never had \u201cinterim\u201d attached to his title. Arbeloa was handed full control of a dressing room of superstars; one major trophy would likely have persuaded P\u00e9rez to keep him for 2026\u201327. Instead, Los Blancos crashed out of the Copa del Rey under his watch, fell out of the top eight in the Champions League league phase standings and surrendered their place at the top of La Liga.<\/p>\n
That combination of Tottenham instability and Madrid turmoil leaves the door open for Pochettino, though the outcome will depend on results at both club and international level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pochettino downplays Real Madrid links as Spurs teeter near relegation and Madrid stumble and tense<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961,987,1464],"tags":[983,1047],"class_list":["post-8212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-real-madrid","category-tottenham","tag-agents","tag-champions-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8212","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=8212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}