Meeting with Ferguson 10 years ago paved the way for Pochettino to Manchester United

Maurício Pochettino emerges as one of the top candidates to take over as Manchester United manager, as the club searches for a new coach to lead the project of rebuilding the team, after recording their worst start in the Premier League since 1986, the year Sir Alex Ferguson took over from Ron Atkinson.

The Telegraph reveals that Mauricio Pochettino's relationship with Manchester United dates back nearly 10 years, specifically to 2016, when he met Sir Alex Ferguson at a lunch at Scott's restaurant in Mayfair, London. They shared a bottle of Italian wine worth £114 and discussed the challenges they faced when taking charge of Manchester United and Tottenham.

In his book "A New World", Mauricio Pochettino recalled details of that meeting, explaining that Ferguson spoke to him about the extent of the changes he had to make upon arriving at Old Trafford in 1986. He noted that the team needed years of work and restructuring before achieving success, which gave him the confidence to continue his project with Tottenham according to his own vision.

The Argentine coach added that Ferguson's words reassured him about the path he has chosen with Tottenham, after finding similarities between the London club's situation upon his arrival and Manchester United's state at the beginning of the Scottish manager's tenure. Ferguson needed several seasons to rebuild the team before winning his first Premier League title in 1993.

Mauricio Pochettino has not hidden his interest in Manchester United over the years, as the newspaper reported a previous conversation he had with his former assistant Jesús Pérez, who has a particular admiration for the city of Manchester, having visited it during holidays when he worked with Pochettino in London. During their discussion about the club, the Argentine coach told his assistant: "One day your dream will come true! You will go to Manchester United," to which Pérez replied: "They should have signed you," before Pochettino jokingly responded: "The future! The future!".

Maurício Pochettino's nomination is based on his record in player development and team building, having contributed to the improvement of prominent names such as Harry Kane, Dele Alli, and Heung-Min Son during his time at Tottenham. He also worked on developing Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson at Chelsea. He led the London side to sixth place in the Premier League during his only season with them, despite a rocky start.

His experience with Tottenham saw the team finish in fifth, third, second, third, and fourth places in consecutive seasons. He also led them to the UEFA Champions League Final in 2019, before being sacked in November of the same year, following the defeat in the final against Liverpool.

The report indicated that Maurício Pochettino has a clause that allows him to terminate his contract with the US national team for £7.5 million, which could ease his transfer to Manchester United if the club decides to move to sign him.