Mauricio Pochettino was sacked by Tottenham Hotspur during November’s international break and replaced by José Mourinho.
On December 24th, we carried a report from AS explaining that Real Betis made a shock approach to appoint him as their new manager, shortly after he was relieved from his duties at the north London club. However, he turned them down.
Espanyol sacked Pablo Machín on December 23rd and he was their second manager to be shown the exit door this season, after David Gallego.
Sport claims the Catalan club called the Argentine and they viewed him as their ‘priority option’ to become new coach.
The contacts were made through third parties and they found out two reasons made it ‘difficult’ for him to return to his former club. They are the ‘contractual problems’ with Tottenham and the offers available at his disposal to coach a new club next season. 
Pochettino is clear he wants to manage Espanyol again later in his future, but the conditions don’t suit him at this point of time.
