Last night’s shock announcement from Luis Enrique that he would be stepping down from the Barcelona job in the summer has caused a vast chunk of the European press to dedicate some column inches to who could potentially replace him next season.
Jorge Sampaoli is a recurring candidate, with the Chilean manager working wonders at Sevilla currently, but the Italian media seem to think Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino is the favourite for the job.
In their Thursday edition, Gazzetta dello Sport claim the Spurs manager is ‘in pole’ to take over at Barcelona for the 2017-18 season, even if he recently signed a new contract with the London club until 2021.
However, they feel pressure from Barcelona and a bonus paid to Tottenham as compensation could get things moving for the Argentinean manager to leave White Hart Lane and return to La Liga, where he has already managed Espanyol in the past.
Adding to Gazzetta’s claims that Pochettino is the favourite for the job are TuttoMercatoWeb who report as an exclusive that Barcelona have arranged a meeting with him in the ‘next 48 hours’ regarding this summer’s vacancy.
They say the Spurs manager is a ‘hot and concrete idea’ for the Catalan club, who also rate Everton’s Ronald Koeman highly.
Why the Italian outlets would know more about this interest in Pochettino than their Spanish colleagues, who are yet to mention the former Espanyol man as a possibility, is beyond us, but they seem convinced.
Pochettino recently insinuated he couldn’t manage Barcelona because of his past with Espanyol, but that’s been completely ignored in the Italian excitement.
Let’s see what happens over the weekend, shall we?
