MAURICIO POCHETTINO previously turned down management offers to wait for the Real Madrid job.
That’s before he eventually ended up joining Paris Saint-Germain two years ago.
The former Tottenham boss, now set to join Chelsea, was out of football for more than a year after being sacked by Daniel Levy in November 2019 following a lengthy spell with the North London club.
The Argentine coach was linked with replacing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United several times – and then again before Erik ten Hag was appointed.
Poch is now on the verge of becoming Graham Potter’s successor at Chelsea, replacing Frank Lampard once the caretaker boss finishes the remainder of the season.
But it was reported last year by Mundo Deportivo that he was once waiting to take over from Zinedine Zidane at Los Blancos in 2021.
It soon became clear that the role at the Spanish giants was not on the horizon so he joined PSG – ironically Zidane then left the Bernabeu while he was in charge of the Parisians.
They then subsequently brought Carlo Ancelotti back to the club and he has had much success winning LaLiga and the Champions League last season.
Pochettino won the Coupe de France and Trophee des Champions in his first season and then the Ligue 1 title in his second.
However it was not enough for him to keep his job and he was relieved of his duties last summer.
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The Champions League remains the trophy PSG are desperate to get their hands on and Poch signed the likes of Lionel Messi, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Sergio Ramos and Achraf Hakimi to help them.
When the French side were knocked out of the Champions League by eventual winners Real Madrid in the Round of 16 it appeared Poch was on borrowed time.
They had a 2-0 aggregate lead with just 30 minutes to play but crashed out of the competition in spectacular fashion.
Karim Benzema’s quickfire hat-trick combined with PSG’s capitulation left the writing on the wall for Pochettino.
Kylian Mbappe now has lots of control over decisions made at the club and there was rumours he wanted a new man in charge with the club eventually going for Christophe Galtier.
But even Poch’s successor isn’t safe from the chaos behind the scenes, and now looks set himself to depart at the end of the season.
Since leaving the Parc des Princes, former Southampton boss Pochettino has been linked with a number of jobs as he eyes a return to management.
Nice were interested in him, as were Chelsea when they sacked Thomas Tuchel in September.
But Poch and the Blues finally feel the time is right to come together as Todd Boehly looks to entrust his under-performing squad to a once-rival gaffer.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
