Former Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino has now revealed what happened in one eye-catching interaction that he shared with Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson.
Mauricio Pochettino is preparing for the World Cup this summer with the United States, one of the host nations of the upcoming FIFA tournament.
The 54-year-old former Southampton and Tottenham boss crossed paths with Sir Alex Ferguson in the tail end of the Manchester United legend’s managerial career.
Pochettino was appointed the head coach of Southampton in January 2013 ahead of Ferguson’s retirement as Man Utd manager at the end of the 2012-13 campaign.
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Mauricio Pochettino responds to the speculation around his 2016 lunch with former Man Utd manager Sir Alex Ferguson
Mauricio Pochettino made it clear that Manchester United had shown an interest in making him the Red Devils permanent head coach post-Sir Alex Ferguson.
“United have always shown interest,” he told FourFourTwo magazine.
“But the ideal scenario to manage there has never quite materialised.”
But the ex-Paris Saint-Germain head coach insisted that an occasion when he went to lunch with former United manager Ferguson was not linked to the Red Devils.
“In any case, that lunch with Sir Alex had absolutely nothing to do with it,” he added.
Pochettino explained that Ferguson had shown him incredible admiration for the Southampton side that he led in the final season of his iconic Old Trafford reign.
“In his final season as a manager, we played a great game against United with Southampton,” he continued.
“In the press conference after, he said we’d been the most complete opponent that United had faced.”
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What happened in the 2016 lunch between former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino and Man Utd icon Sir Alex Ferguson?
Pochettino recalled that the lunch that he had with Ferguson included him paying for the occasion after he answered the iconic ex-Man Utd boss’ World Cup question.
“Through the secretary of the League Managers Association, he asked for my phone number so that we could have lunch,” he explained.
“It was a meeting in London between colleagues – between a genius and an apprentice.
“My English wasn’t great, but Jesus Perez helped. When we asked for the bill, I wanted to take it, and so did he. We started arguing over who’d pay!
“He said, ‘Stop, Mauricio, I’m going to ask you a question. If you answer correctly, you pay. If not, I’ll pay.’ I had no idea what he was going to ask.
“He said, ‘Name an Argentine player who scored in the 1930 World Cup final.’ I replied, ‘Stabile.’ He couldn’t believe it. The name came to me out of nowhere! In the end, I paid the bill.”
Pochettino left Southampton in 2014 and signed for Tottenham as manager, with the Argentine impressing during his spell in charge of the Premier League club.
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