1 hour ago
39
The Argentine has been linked with a return to Tottenham Hotspur for years and one former Spurs and USA player would not rule out him coming back sooner than people think
Tottenham might succeed in enticing Mauricio Pochettino to quit the USA now and return to the Premier League before the World Cup, former Spurs and USA goalkeeper Kasey Keller has claimed.
The north London club are in dire straits right now as they lie 17th in the Premier League and just a point above the drop zone. They have seven games remaining to save their top flight status after Sunday's 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The managerial situation at Spurs is delicate as interim head coach Igor Tudor found out after that game that his father Mario had died and the 47-year-old Croatian attended his funeral on Wednesday in Split in the presence of a huge congregation.
Tottenham will want to be sensitive towards what Tudor is going through. football.london reported earlier this week that there is a growing belief among some inside the club that a mutual parting of the ways is the likeliest scenario with the 47-year-old able to focus on family matters and Spurs on the huge pressures of what lies ahead.
FOLLOW OUR TOTTENHAM FB PAGE! Latest Spurs news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page
That scenario would lead to a decision needing to be made over whether Spurs appoint another temporary coach to hopefully stay up and then reach a wider managerial selection base in the summer or move now to bring in someone permanently now.
Former Brighton and Marseille boss Roberto De Zerbi has been linked to the job while Pochettino, who is also said to be of interest to Real Madrid, is never far from the conversation after repeatedly admitting that he wants to return to Tottenham one day.
Keller, who played 85 times for Spurs and on 102 occasions for the USA, believes the Argentine will leave his international job after the World Cup but could not rule out an earlier exit if his old club push hard enough.
"I definitely see him quitting after the World Cup. With Tottenham Hotspur, the problem, I think, is if they could entice Pochettino to quit the World Cup right now, and I could see that happening," said the goalkeeper.
"I think they may try to hold on, but I don't think they can. I don't think they can continue down the path right now without hiring somebody and have the unthinkable happen.
"Timing is so important, I think if Spurs could get a couple of wins in the next couple of matches, obviously the Forest match what a disaster. Then you think hold off, wait until after the World Cup and then have conversations. I think Spurs need to make a real serious move right now or the unthinkable is possible."
The former Tottenham and Leicester goalkeeper believes stars like captain Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven have hurt their chances of a big move to a Champions League club this summer with their displays this season as the Lilywhites have struggled.
"Absolutely. When you're talking about these teams, you're talking about teams you need to go into with a particular mentality. We have seen that over the last couple of years with Man Utd, it hasn't been the mentality you expected at those clubs," Keller said. "Let's say Michael Carrick right now is starting to change that mentality at United, do you bring in somebody with the mentality of 'I'm not going to listen to this, I'm not going to do that, and I'm more important' - that would be a fear."
Keller believes Pochettino will do well with the USA at the World Cup this summer and the former stopper was asked if the Argentine could channel the spirit which took unfancied Spurs to the Champions League final in 2019.
"I think there's always something similar, but I don't think anyone suspects USMNT can win the World Cup. It's a squad Pochettino took some time to figure out, he kind of opened it up to a bunch of people and the results didn't follow, and then you saw over the last several camps that it has come right back down to where you thought it was going to be from day one and the results have followed," Keller told Jackpot City Casino.
"Like any World Cup, you need your stars to perform, you need your role players to do their role and then you need a handful of surprises. You need that player, like where did you come from, where did these performances come from.
"You need luck too. If you're playing against a big boy, you need them to have some sort of internal problem going on that you don't know about. Maybe you need just one of those crazy games where your goalkeeper has a great game. I think the US should do fine. I think we're just confused about how it will play out, the expanded player pool, three different countries, and there are some X-factors involved here that we haven't seen before."
English (US) ·