Talk of Mauricio Pochettino becoming Manchester United manager has stepped up a notch in recent weeks.
There has always been murmurings of the former Tottenham boss eventually taking over at Old Trafford Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ever since the Norwegian was given the permanent job.
But speculation is now unsurprisingly rife with United sitting eighth in the Premier League and appearing unlikely to qualify for the Champions League.
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Pochettino only intensified these claims during an appearance on Sky Sports‘ Natalie Pinkham’s In The Pink podcast
“To be honest, I would love to work in the Premier League,” he said.
“It’s going to be difficult, I know, and for now it’s a moment to wait and we’ll see what happens.
“It’s a moment of recovery, to think about yourself a little bit, and to be ready because in football always something can happen and you need to be ready.
“I’m ready and waiting for a new challenge. I have the belief and confidence that the next challenge will be fantastic.”
The Argentine has been out of work since being relieved of his duties at Tottenham on November 19. He is waiting patiently for his next challenge and the United job is clearly of interest.
Pochettino was spotted at Brentford v Leeds on Tuesday in close proximity to Neil Ashton, PR advisor to United’s Vice-Executive chairman Ed Woodward.
An elite manager is waiting in the wings for United if Solskjaer does not meet his expectations this season.
But former Reds midfielder Lee Sharpe believes the Pochettino rumours are putting unnecessary added pressure on Solskjaer and his United squad.
“At a club like United the pressure’s on every week,” Sharpe told Sky Sports, as quoted by Manchester Evening News.
You have to win every game and, if you don’t, the pressure mounts. He (Solskjaer) will have had a goal set at the start of the season which I believe would be top four and, if they don’t get that, then questions will be asked and chats will be had behind the scenes.
“The Pochettino situation doesn’t help matters but I also think that Ole knows the pressure that he’s under, he knows the pressure of the club and what the club brings and he will have his own goals and his own standards that he has to meet and he doesn’t need outside influences putting extra pressure on him. He’ll already be feeling it as it is.”
