United States manager Mauricio Pochettino has now revealed why he thinks former Ajax boss Erik ten Hag beat him to the Manchester United head coach role.
Mauricio Pochettino has been heavily linked with Manchester United over the course of his managerial career after he impressed during his time at Tottenham.
The 54-year-old Argentine failed to lift major silverware with Tottenham, but Pochettino did lead Spurs to League Cup and Champions League finals as manager.
Pochettino was sacked from his role at Tottenham in 2019 and the former Spurs boss would attract United’s attention again when he was at Paris Saint-Germain.
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Former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino explains his situation at PSG when Man Utd links reignited
Mauricio Pochettino returned to management in 2021 with Paris Saint-Germain and led the Parisian club to both the French Cup and the Ligue 1 title.
However, the former PSG manager’s failure to lead the French club to the Champions League trophy saw his managerial reign terminated in 2022.
Speaking to FourFourTwo magazine, Pochettino said that his full focus was on the Ligue 1 title in the 2021-22 campaign after PSG’s Champions League exit.
“I was under contract at PSG,” he said.
“After our Champions League elimination against Real Madrid, we had no option but to make sure we secured the Ligue 1 title at least.”
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Mauricio Pochettino on former Ajax manager Erik ten Hag becoming the Man Utd head coach ahead of him
Ralf Rangnick had been overseeing Manchester United’s 2021-22 season as interim manager after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had been dismissed from his role in 2021.
Pochettino feels that the instability at United at the time and the differing contract situations led to Erik ten Hag beating him in the race to become Red Devils boss.
“United were in a hurry to announce their new manager before the end of that season because the situation had become unsustainable,” he added.
“I couldn’t negotiate, whereas Ajax gave Ten Hag the flexibility to do so.”
Ten Hag succeeded Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the Old Trafford dugout in 2022 and the former Ajax head coach would be sacked from his role as United manager in 2024.
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