Mauricio Pochettino (54), the manager who led Tottenham's recent heyday, revealed painful regrets from past transfer markets. The story also included matters related to Son Heung-min (34, LAFC).
The British site Spurs Web reported on the 30th (Korean time) that Pochettino, who is currently leading the U.S. national team, appeared on the YouTube channel "The Overlap" and named the targets he failed to sign while he was in charge of Tottenham.
According to the article, many Tottenham fans point to the club's lack of ambition as the cause that pushed it toward relegation danger. Tottenham is currently 18th in the league, making relegation likely depending on the results of the remaining four matches.
In particular, many believe the decision in the summer of 2018, when the Pochettino era brought in not a single player, played a decisive role in the current team's fall into the relegation zone.
Pochettino recalled, "I wanted to sign Sadio Mané (34, Al Nassr) and Georginio Wijnaldum (36, Al Ettifaq), but for various reasons we couldn't achieve it."
Pochettino added, "We were clearly interested in them, but they decided to move to Liverpool," and "they eventually beat us in 2019 (the Champions League final)."
He said calmly, "I'm not trying to blame the club; we tried to improve the squad at the time but, for various reasons, we couldn't. That's not a problem, it's just part of business."
Mané, who moved to Liverpool at the time, scored 111 goals in the Premier League alone and grew into the league's top winger, even claiming the golden boot (top scorer).
Son Heung-min, who joined Tottenham in the summer of 2015, struggled to adapt in his first season. Because of that, Son pushed for a move to Wolfsburg after the season ended. But Pochettino stepped in and persuaded him to stay, saying, "I believe in Son Heung-min." After that, Son began to write his legend.
What if Mané had joined Tottenham at the time? The outlet emphasized that if Mané had joined the left side where Son was holding out, Tottenham's history would have changed.
Pochettino also revealed the growth story of Harry Kane (33, Bayern Munich), who became Tottenham's all-time top scorer. He recalled, "When Tim Sherwood left and we arrived, Kane was the team's third or fourth striker."
He continued, "When I started working with Kane, I saw that his mindset was filled with a determination to succeed. In fact, he did not have the best habits (training, diet, etc.), but after talking with us he very smartly changed those habits quickly."
He finished the interview by saying, "We are proud, but the reason Kane could succeed is because of him and the people around him."
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