Don’t look for him, he’s not in Paris. Well, not yet. Future coach of Paris Saint-Germain to replace Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino, 48, has still not landed in the French capital he knows well. The Argentine is still in London where he continued to reside after his ouster from Tottenham’s managerial post in November 2019. From there, the former defender continues to closely follow the career of his young son Maurizio Pochettino. , 19, who, after signing his first professional contract, currently plays for the Spurs reserve team.
The fact remains that the formalization of his appointment should now not delay and be concomitant with the announcement of the end of the collaboration of the champions of France with Thomas Tuchel. As announced by the German media on Sunday evening, PSG and the German coach recruited in 2018 have found a financial agreement to terminate the latter’s contract.
During the discussions, the future former PSG coach obtained payment of all his salaries, but also of all the target bonuses provided, including that linked to a victory in the Champions League even if the capital club lost in the final against Bayern Munich (0-1 defeat) on 23 August. This partly explains that Tuchel, fired six months from the end of his contract, should receive between 7 and 8 million euros in severance pay. Not bad for a technician whose remuneration reached 625,000 euros gross per month with various bonuses.
In Paris with its historical assistants
Mauricio Pochettino should receive him a slightly lower salary than his predecessor. But he should be able to surround himself with his historic assistants Miguel d’Agostino and Jesus Pérez, as well as his other son Sebastiano, 25, himself a sports science graduate at Paris-Saclay University, to manage aspects of physical preparation.
We also know that Pochettino has remained close to Antonio Jimenez, coach of the Spanish goalkeepers who officiated with him in his last three clubs and that Hugo Lloris appreciated at Spurs for having allowed him to become “a modern goalkeeper”. If Pochettino has still not spoken with his new players – he has to wait for his official appointment – he should have no trouble talking with them. He kept the basics of French from his time at PSG between 2001 and 2003, and is fluent in English and Spanish, two languages used in the locker room especially for the last.
Last point, to this day, the resumption of training is still set for Sunday January 3 even if it seems that the new staff would have liked to bring this date forward. But for logistical reasons it seems complicated, and no player has received any information to this effect at this time.
