Mauricio Pochettino will demand assurances from Daniel Levy, his chairman, that Tottenham Hotspur’s key players will not be sold as a condition of signing a new contract at the club. The Argentinian has been offered a new five-year deal that would make him the highest paid manager in Tottenham’s history on a salary of £5.5 million-a-year, but will not sign an extension before the club’s attitude to player sales becomes clearer, which will not be until the summer.
Pochettino spoke warmly about his happiness at Tottenham and the club’s potential to win trophies yesterday, but was careful to avoid committing himself beyond his contract, which will have three years left to run at the end of the season. It is understood that Pochettino is conscious of Tottenham’s reputation as a selling club and wants clarification from Levy that his success in mounting a genuine challenge for the Barclays Premier League title and taking them back into the Champions League for the first time in six years in just his second season at White Hart Lane will bring about a change of policy.
Tottenham are bracing themselves for offers for Harry Kane and Dele Alli, with Manchester United and Real Madrid among the clubs interested in the England internationals, and Pochettino wants to know that any approaches will be rejected. Michael Carrick, Robbie Keane, Dimitar Berbatov, Luka Modric and Gareth Bale have all been sold by Tottenham for huge profits over the past decade and there is concern among some supporters that the club may find bids well in excess of £50 million for Kane or Alli difficult to resist, particularly given the projected £750 million cost of building a new stadium. Tottenham welcome United to White Hart Lane tomorrow afternoon aiming for their first home victory over them for 15 years to keep the pressure on Leicester City, the leaders, who face Sunderland earlier in the day.
Tottenham’s ability to retain and add to their squad this summer is likely to have a huge influence on their attempts to tie down Pochettino, who has featured on United and Chelsea’s managerial shortlist this year and is seen as a potential Real Madrid manager. The 44-year-old jokingly invoked
Hamlet when discussing his contractual dilemma yesterday, although judging by his first experience of the Bard’s play other Shakespearean soliloquies are unlikely to follow.
“For me – to be here, or not to be?” Pochettino said. “That is the question. There is a difference from being a manager and being a player. As a player if you sign a contract for four years, if you want to be there for four years, you are. But as a manager it always depends on the sack. You are always under pressure. I remember as a player my first date with my girlfriend — who today is my wife — she said to me, ‘Let’s go to see a movie at the cinema after the game’. I was very tired after the game and thought, ‘Shakespeare? For me?’ It was very boring. Then suddenly I felt a nudge in my ribs and sat up quickly thinking, ‘What’s happening?’ I had been snoring!”
Pochettino is far more attentive as a head coach than he was during his playing days, to the extent that he is planning to conduct negotiations with Levy over a new contract himself. The former Argentina centre back has not used an agent since the end of a playing career that began at Newell’s Old Boys and took in spells at Espanyol, Paris Saint-Germain and Bordeaux. Although happy at Tottenham Pochettino appears in no rush to sign a new deal and talks have been placed on hold until the end of the season.
“I think Tottenham today is in a very good place,” Pochettino said. “We have great facilities, our supporters are fantastic so why find another place? For the players I think they feel at home here. I think me too. But you can see that when nearly two years ago I signed a five-year contract. There are still three years and three months.
“The best agent for me is myself. You need to ask Daniel if I’m strong or not. I had an agent when I was a player, but when I stopped playing football I stopped my relationship with my agent. Always I had one agent, but I want to manage my life. I’m not disagreeing with the manager that has an agent, but I think I can deal with the offer.”
Full article:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/pochettino-wont-sign-new-deal-if-spurs-sell-stars-hhmxkhhpl
