This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas has submitted his latest set of Premier League predictions ahead of the weekend fixtures, and has noticed one thing about the relationship between Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino and owner Daniel Levy.
What did he write then?
Well, speaking ahead of the north London outfit’s daunting trip to Anfield to face Premier League leaders on Sunday, the former Arsenal player had some interesting things to say about the Argentine.
The 57-year-old wrote on Sky Sports: ‘The way he keeps talking it is as if Mauricio Pochettino has a back-up plan in the form of Manchester United or Real Madrid, who supposedly want him.
‘He knows he gets on with the owner.’
Some very suggestive words from Nicholas in what has been a testing period for Spurs, which was somewhat alleviated by their 5-0 thrashing of Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League on Tuesday.
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Interesting comments
From what ex-Gunner Nicholas is saying, it suggests he thinks the former Southampton boss knows that he can say and do whatever he wants, and he won’t get sacked by Levy because of the strong relationship they have behind the scenes.
To say Manchester United and Real Madrid are a back-up plan for him – presumably if Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and/or Zinedine Zidane lose their jobs – is quite the claim from the Sky Sports pundit, and once again may cast some doubt over his long-term future at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Pochettino and Spurs could certainly do with building on their midweek European win, as they try and forget about recent losses – where performances weren’t great – against the likes of Bayern Munich and Brighton and Hove Albion.
While he and Levy may have had their differences in the past, as shown by the need for clear-the-air talks during the summer, it appears as though their bond is pretty strong after reports emerged that the chairman had no intention of sacking the 47-year-old despite the poor start to the campaign.