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This might be another season where Tottenham Hotspur fans might be looking forward to a top three finish in the Premier League to gain a Champions League spot next season but Spurs fans have a lot to look forward to after the end of the 2018-19 season. For the ongoing decade, Tottenham has been into top flight football thanks to one man, Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentine manager has been at the helm of the club for five years and has become a phenomenal figure for Spurs.
From inheriting a youth squad with no real quality to oversee building a stadium, Pochettino has done everything to be compared with former Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger. Although Pochettino hasn’t had any silverware on his part, he once suggested that adding trophies to your cabinet increases a manager’s ego and not help the club in any way. The Argentine has signed a new five-year contract extension which ties him to Tottenham till 2023. Let us take a look at 3 reasons why Mauricio Pochettino is in the role of an ‘Arsene Wenger’ at Spurs.
#3 Inheriting a young squad and making stars
Premier League fans would remember how Arsene Wenger would not fear giving youth a chance over experienced players in his early Arsenal days. Players like Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Cesc Fabregas, and Mathieu Flamini donned the Gunners jersey from an early age. Under Wenger, Arsenal reshaped their youth promotion strategy. Giving youth players a chance to prove their worth to be in the first team rather than being a usual buy for lower tier teams has always been the motto of Wenger’s principle. Pochettino hailing from cross-town rivals; somewhat holds the same policy.
From inheriting an inexperienced costly squad, Pochettino at once turned his attention to youth players in the academy. He quickly sacrificed Roberto Soldado for academy graduate, Harry Kane as the starting striker and the gamble paid off. Kane, Dele Ali and Eric Dier made it to England’s Euro 2016 squad. But that has not been all. After having two successive empty transfer windows, Pochettino played an ambitious Harry Winks in the midfield for most of the important matches in the season. It can be well said that Pochettino has the same vision as Wenger, provided he stays at the club.
#2. Proving to have a point even after receiving offers from big clubs
After his retirement last season, Wenger confessed that he had offers from Real Madrid more than once in his career but he says that he proved loyalty to the club after he oversaw a stadium reconstruction by rejecting the opportunity. Arsenal had won the Premier League by becoming ‘The Invincibles’ in the 2003-04 season and the club decided to change their age-old Highbury Ground to a brand new stadium. Along with the new stadium, a lot of responsibilities and duties were vested upon the Frenchman as an elaborate plan to change the structure of the club was presented. After almost a decade, he might regret that he turned down one of the biggest clubs but what he left behind at Arsenal is a legacy to remember.
It might be too early to say that but Mauricio Pochettino might be heading towards the same legacy provided he runs down the length of his contract with Spurs. The Argentinean who has often been praised for his man-management skills has been linked with Manchester United and Real Madrid after Jose Mourinho and Santiago Solari's recent failures. But with Ole Gunnar Solksjaer and Zinedine Zidane at the helm, Pochettino’s future might be secure with Tottenham for now.
#1 Overseeing a stadium reconstruction
What was once esteemed as an impossible task by the Arsenal faithful was made possible by Arsene Wenger at a time when professionalism was starting to flow in Premier League. When Wenger first arrived at Arsenal, the board was having plans to expand the Highbury but his quick success made the club change their ideas and English football forever. Wenger said in a post-interview that when the stadium was built, the banks agreed on one condition that Wenger would sign for a five-year contract. They wanted technical consistency so that the club could pay them back.
Pochettino is currently living the dream as Spurs unveiled their new stadium with a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace. The joy of a new stadium for Tottenham might be amazing but Pochettino understands how much load he had to take. In an era where Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool have upped their quality with a decent amount of money, Tottenham had to be satisfied with their home-grown quality for years as their transfer funds were reduced. With the new stadium guaranteeing more revenue from next season, Pochettino can be hopeful that at last, he can get the backing from the club in the transfer market that he deserves.
