[ad_pod ]
Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino is the current favourite to take over at Real Madrid, per Mundo Deportivo.
The Spurs manager – who saw his side beat Real 3-1 at Wembley last season – has masterminded his side’s progression into the Champions League quarter-finals, while Los Blancos were knocked out by Ajax on Tuesday evening.
What’s the word?
The pressure continues to rise on Santiago Solari at the Bernabeu, with Real undergoing something of a crisis.
The club are third in La Liga, five points behind second-placed Atletico Madrid and 12 behind leaders Barcelona.
Barca defeated Real 1-0 at the weekend prior to Los Blancos’ humiliating 4-1 thumping at the hands of Ajax in midweek.
And the aforementioned report claims that president Florenino Perez is already considering the possibility of appointing a new manager in the summer.
Pochettino, they claim, is the favourite, ahead of Jose Mourinho, who is out of work following his departure from Manchester United.
Real, however, are wary of negotiating with Spurs, having struggled to extricate both Luka Modric and Gareth Bale from the club in recent seasons.
Massimiliano Allegri and Jurgen Klopp are also potential appointments according to the Independent, while former manager Zinedine Zidane, who won back-to-back-to-back Champions League trophies, could reportedly be convinced to return.
Spurs face a fight
This is crunch time for Spurs.
The club appear to have successfully fended off the interest of United, who look poised to appoint Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on a permanent basis at the end of the season.
Real, though, are a whole different ball game. While Spurs can claim to be ahead of United in terms of their development and talent from goalkeeper all the way to striker, they have no such superiority over Real.
Real boast a number of world-class stars and, while they are not quite on top form, they have the resources to sign almost any player in the world.
That may well apply to managers too; Pochettino is forward-thinking, has done a fine job at Spurs and is adept at working under tight parameters.
It remains to be seen if his philosophy of promoting youth players would transmit to La Liga, but he is the clear candidate to perform a rescue job and lay down roots for the future.
If their interest is formalised, Spurs may well struggle to convince him to stay.
