Former Arsenal man Ray Parlour has said that the Manchester United job would be very difficult to turn down for Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Jose Mourinho was dismissed by the Red Devils on Tuesday, and later in the day The Times reported that the Spurs boss wants to be considered for the head job at Old Trafford.
Parlour delivered his verdict: “They’re going to do everything they can, probably, to get Pochettino,” he told talkSPORT. “Now, whether he’s going to be loyal to Spurs and say ‘look I’ve been here four and a half years, I’ve got such a big future here with my team I’ve got, with the new stadium and going forward…’
“But it’s very hard. It’s a very hard job to turn down. Manchester United are the biggest club in the world. One of the biggest clubs in the world, alongside Real Madrid, with their history,” he finished.
“They’ll do everything now to get Pochettino, it’s hard to turn down.”
“Solskjaer is a strange choice, I’d thought they stick with Carrick."@talkSPORTDrive & @RealRomfordPele on who Man United will hire next.
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— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) December 18, 2018
OPINION
Parlour is absolutely right, here. Pochettino has a wonderful set-up in place at Tottenham and he has done a remarkable job there, but United remain a far bigger club than Spurs. In terms of history, prestige, ambition, spending power, United are still lightyears ahead of Tottenham. For those reasons the former Southampton boss may believe that the time is right to make the switch to Old Trafford. Perhaps he feels as if he has taken his current side as far as they can go? If in the long term he sees United as being a better vehicle for challenging Manchester City and Liverpool then he will likely make the move. However, he has got a wonderful situation at Spurs, and he would be taking a backward step at this moment in time. This Tottenham team are terrific, and they’re only going to get better in the coming years. However, if he feels that the club don’t match his ambitions, then he could be off to join the Red Devils.