Tottenham Hotspur News: Mauricio Pochettino admits receiving 'plenty' of offers to leave Spurs as he drops update on his future
What's the story?
Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that he has turned down 'plenty' of job offers since taking over Spurs but insists that such calls are not uncommon among his fellow managers in the Premier League.
The Argentine gave a stern response to questions about his future and reiterated that he has refused all offers owing to his commitment to the north London club.
In case you didn't know...
Pochettino's future has been called into question a number of times in the last couple of seasons, with clubs such as Real Madrid and Manchester United reportedly showing interest in the manager.
These rumours intensified after Spurs failed to win the UEFA Champions League title, following their defeat to Liverpool in the final in Madrid back in June.
Additionally, the 47-year-old endured a challenging time in the summer transfer window as he continues to struggle with the club's recruitment strategy. Having said that, Spurs did secure the club record £55.5m signing of Tanguy Ndombele, Ryan Sessegnon and Giovani Lo Celso to lay some kind of groundwork for a better standing in the league this season.
The heart of the matter
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Pochettino admitted that he has received several offers to depart Tottenham over the years but he has rejected them all because of his commitment to the club.
When asked about the offers, he said,
"Yes, plenty. From everywhere. Daniel [Levy] knows. Daniel knows very well our commitment to the club is massive. It is more than normal. Sometimes it is tough to explain but I think that is normal for different managers.
"If you ask [Pep] Guardiola, if you ask [Jurgen] Klopp and all the best managers, they will have received calls from different clubs. That does not make it special to me.
"I don't want it to be used to say: 'Look how good I am because I said no'. My commitment is with the club."
When asked if he was close to leaving, the Argentine replied,
"No I wasn't close. Last year when I signed the contract here it was because I wanted to help the club to finish the move to the new stadium and not create an issue."
"At this moment it was easy to say: 'After four years it is good to try and find another challenge' and move on but we showed our commitment."
"It is because I care about the club. I care about Daniel and our personal relationship."
Pochettino concluded by saying,
"I am very happy to be here. I am very proud. Five years ago we started a project and now we are one of the best clubs in the world. Now it is about trying to find a way to keep being competitive for the present and the future."
What's next?
Tottenham are scheduled to travel to the Emirates Stadium for their highly-anticipated north London derby against Arsenal on Sunday.