Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy told Chelsea he would leave the club before Mauricio Pochettino when they tried to prise away the manager at the end of last season, according to Neil Ashton.
Writing in a column for the Sun, the senior journalist claimed the west Londoners made “discreet enquiries” about the Argentine as they began the process of replacing Antonio Conte.
Ashton reported that Levy gave Chelsea short shrift even though they were prepared to make an “official approach” and explained he would leave Spurs before Pochettino would.
OPINION
Given that Levy has held the Spurs reins for over a decade-and-a-half and there is no sign he is going anywhere, it is a measure of his belief in Pochettino that he told Chelsea the manager could outlast him. The highly-rated manager, who has transformed the fortunes of the north Londoners over the last four years, had several top-notch options after steering the team to their third consecutive top-four finish, something Conte was unable to do at Chelsea in 2017-18, although compensation arrived through their FA Cup triumph. That is unlikely to be enough to save the Italian at Stamford Bridge, where even the very best managers have short shelves lives of a couple of seasons. Levy has recognised he is on to a good thing with Pochettino, whose ability to develop players and assemble a team on a budget dwarfed by the Premier League big spenders has long marked him out as special. It is doubtful whether he will stick around longer than Levy, but the chairman made his point eloquently enough.