The last six years have been nothing short of a whirlwind for Tottenham Hotspur.
The fans have seen their club go from a Champions League final to the bottom half of the Premier League and their all-time top goalscorer sold to Bayern Munich.
On top of that, Daniel Levy has been through a plethora of managers, with José Mourinho, Nuno Espírito Santo, and Antonio Conte all failing to live up to expectations.
To his credit, Ange Postecoglou was at least able to bring the entertainment factor back for a while, but it’s now starting to feel like time is running out for him as well.
In fact, if recent murmurings are to be believed, there is a slim chance that the Australian might be replaced by the last manager who was able to steer the club in the right direction for a sustained period: Mauricio Pochettino.
Pochettino's potential return
On November 19th, 2019, just five months after he led the club to their first Champions League final, it was announced that Pochettino had been sacked by Spurs, who were 14th in the Premier League at the time – sound familiar?
While the North Londoners made their way through the aforementioned list of managers in the following years, the Argentine took some time out before taking a job with Paris Saint-Germain in January 2021, where he won the League, French Cup and French Super Cup, but was sacked in the summer of 2022.
Out of work once again, the former Lilywhites boss took another year out of the spotlight before making the shock decision to manage Chelsea heading into last season, where, unfortunately, things did not work out, as after finishing in sixth place, he left by ‘mutual consent.’
It was a much quicker turnaround in terms of finding a new job this time, though, as in September, it was announced that he’d be taking charge of the United States Men’s National Team through the next World Cup, which is to be hosted in the States, Mexico and Canada.
However, things have not entirely gone according to plan for Pochettino, as while he won five of his first eight games in charge, his side lost their CONCACAF Nations League semi-final against Panama and then the third-place play-off against Canada.
So, with things not going great in his current role and things going even worse for Postecoglou in London, it’s not massively surprising to see reports jumping on him saying, “Yes, I would like one day to come back” last week.
However, while anything can happen in football, it seems like a distant possibility, as it would reportedly require a compensation package in the region of £21m, which seems unlikely to be something Levy and Co would be willing to pay.
That said, if the former Spurs boss were to return and be handed the reigns, we are sure there are some things he’d like to do quite differently and mistakes he’d like to avoid, mistakes like the signing of Tanguy Ndombele.
Pochettino's worst Spurs' signing
So, during Pochettino’s time at Spurs, he was responsible for some brilliant signings, but also his fair share of dire ones, such as Serge Aurier, Clinton N’Jie and Vincent Janssen, but the worst, by far, has to be Ndombele.
The French midfielder joined the club for a then-club-record fee of around £63m and with a mountain of hype, so much so that some journalists were referring to him as the club’s new Mousa Dembélé.
Unfortunately, those comparisons could not have been any further away from reality, as while the former Lyon star was able to show his quality here and there, he was often underwhelming, if not an actual drag on the rest of the side.
Appearances
91
Goals
10
Assists
9
Goal Involvements per Match
0.20
In all, the 28-year-old midfielder, who journalist Paul Brown dubbed “one of the worst signings Spurs have ever made,” made 91 first-team appearances for the club, scoring just ten goals and providing nine assists.
Worse yet, the Longjumeau-born dud was handed a £200k-per-week contract when he initially put pen to paper, so for the first two and a half years at the club, he earned £26m in wages, before moving back to Lyon on loan for the latter half of the 21/22 campaign.
The following season saw him spend the year in Italy with Napoli, but the Lilywhites still had to pay around £7.4m of his wages, and then, last year, they had to pay £7.8m of it to convince Galatasaray to take him on loan.
Fortunately, the club terminated his deal last summer, so as not to pay any more money for someone who was never going to make it into the first team, but when you add up the money he did make in wages and his initial fee, the Frenchman cost Tottenham an eye-watering £104.2m.
Transfer Fee
£63m
Wages (Total)
£200k (£41.2m)
Appearances
91
Cost per Appearance
£1.1m
Goals
10
Cost per Goal
£10.4m
Assists
9
Cost per Assist
£11.5m
Goal Involvements
19
Cost per Goal Involvement
£5.4m
When broken down, that comes out to around £1.1m-per-appearance, £10.4m-per-goal, £11.5m-per-assist or £5.4m-per-goal involvement, which is the sort of money you’d pay for a truly game-changing signing.
Ultimately, if Pochettino is to make a return to Spurs this year, he could help take the club back to where it belongs, although he might want to avoid expensive midfielders from the South of France this time.
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