Guillem Balague has revealed Real Madrid have made contact with Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino this year about taking over as their manager.
In an analysis article for the BBC Sport site about the struggles of the Spanish giants, the ghostwriter of Pochettino’s autobiography has claimed manager Julen Lopetegui is set to lose his job less than five months after his appointment.
The Spurs manager will be one of the favourites to replace him and Balague explained he was targeted by the Spanish giants back in May.
“The fans have been remarkably stoic towards Lopetegui, probably because they understand his predicament. Not so with club president Florentino Perez,” Balague told the BBC Sport site.
“It probably does not help that everyone knows Lopetegui was very far from being Perez’s first-choice replacement once Zidane left.
“Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino, Juventus’ Massimiliano Allegri, Hoffenheim coach Julian Nagelsmann and even former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte were contacted before Perez plumped for Lopetegui – for the simple reason that all the others turned him down or were not allowed to leave, or both.
“Perez is not exactly going out of his way to defend Lopetegui and the general feeling is that the coach is a dead man walking, with the only real issue being when rather than if he will get his marching orders.”
OPINION
There will be concern among the hierarchy about whether Pochettino might be more tempted by Real than he was back in May when Zinedine Zidane suddenly quit. Certainly, the Argentine, who had a lengthy spell in charge of Espanyol at the start of his managerial career, will be one of the hottest contenders for the post if, as seems likely, Lopetegui does go. It is inevitable that the Spanish speaker will manage Real at some point in his managerial career. Spurs fans can point at the five-year £8.5million-a-year contract Pochettino signed in May and how any deal would require a huge compensation payment from Real as well as lengthy negotiations with Daniel Levy, which would not be guaranteed to be successful. That said, Pochettino does not seem as happy at Tottenham as he once was, and the team’s place in the league table is not a real reflection of how averagely they’ve played this season.