How 'bottler' Pochettino gifted Man Utd job to Ten Hag

Suraj Radia

• Updated: 6 Apr 2022 21:42 BST
• 4 min read

Mauricio Pochettino is set to miss out on the Manchester United job after the club reportedly accelerated plans to appoint Erik ten Hag as their new manager.

Paris Saint-Germain boss Pochettino was considered a frontrunner for the role, however reports from ESPN suggest that Ten Hag is the man set to take over at Old Trafford in the summer.

Despite uncertainty from some club officials over whether Ten Hag is the right man for the job, it is thought that Pochettino’s difficult season in Paris tipped the scales in favour of the Ajax manager.

Where did it all go wrong for Pochettino and how did he blow the job he was considered an obvious choice for?

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Pochettino has long been touted as a future Man Utd manager and perhaps would have been at the helm had the timing worked out following his sacking from Tottenham in 2019.

Despite being unable to win a trophy during his time in North London, Pochettino’s lack of silverware during his career was attributed to the failures of his club rather than his ability.

However, his arrival at PSG midway through the 2020-21 season brought an element of pressure and expectation for the first time in Pochettino’s career.

And things didn’t immediately go to plan as PSG missed out on the league title for the first time in four years, although they did win the French Super Cup and the Coupe de France.

The club relentlessly strengthened in the summer and made it clear that failure was not an option by signing Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos and Gianluigi Donnarumma amongst others.

But the signings have struggled with Messi having one of his worst ever goalscoring seasons, injuries limiting Ramos to just five appearances and Donnarumma still battling with Keylor Navas for the number one jersey.

While PSG have established a 12-point lead at the top of Ligue 1, they were dumped out of the Coupe de France on penalties by Nice in the round of 16 and lost the Super Cup to Lille.

However, the worst moment was undoubtedly the collapse to Real Madrid in the Champions League first knockout stage where Pochettino’s side conceded three times in the final 30 minutes to exit the competition in humiliating fashion.

The loss, coupled with three defeats in six games in the league, raised alarm bells in Paris and question marks over whether Pochettino could meet the high expectations set of him.

It is believed the defeat to Madrid is what convinced United officials to pursue Ten Hag instead, with some not wanting to appoint a manager who had failed in their most recent job.

The decision was also made easier by Ten Hag having a release clause in his contract that meant he would cost less than £2 million, while Pochettino would command a fee of more than £15m.

Ultimately Pochettino’s stock has dramatically fallen and it appears United have chosen to go with unproven over proven disappointment.