Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham gardening leave officially ends as Newcastle links persist

Posted Tuesday, May 19, 2020 by 101 GREAT GOALS

Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham gardening leave officially ends as Newcastle links persist
As confirmed by a number of reliable outlets, Mauricio Pochettino is now free to negotiate a return to management, following the expiration of his 'gardening leave' period at Tottenham.

Spurs part with Poch

After surprising the masses in making it all the way to the Champions League final last season, Pochettino and Spurs subsequently endured a nightmare start to the new campaign.

The north Londoners notched just 3 wins from their opening 12 fixtures, a run which left them sitting in a lowly 14th in the Premier League table in mid-November.

Elsewhere, the Lilywhites were also ousted from the League Cup by League Two outfit Colchester, and fell to an absolutely embarrassing 7-2 defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

As such, despite having long been regarded as one of the finest tacticians in England, rumours inevitably began to mount that Mauricio Pochettino was inching towards the Spurs exit door.

It therefore came as little surprise when an official announcement was forthcoming on the 19th of November, confirming that, on the back of a 1-1 stalemate at home to Sheffield United, the Tottenham hierarchy had come to the decision to part ways with their long-time boss.

Pochettino 'a free man'

Pochettino has since remained out of work, despite links to some of Europe's top clubs.

As outlined above, though, any suitors interested in the services of the Argentine ahead of next season have today been handed a boost.

As confirmed by the likes of Matt Law of the Daily Telegraph, the former Spurs boss' gardening leave period, during which Pochettino remained on the books of the Lilywhites despite having been sacked, has come to an end.

This comes with the 2019/20 Premier League season having, before the COVID-19 outbreak, been due to finish up yesterday.

As such, the 48-year-old is now 'a free man', meaning Pochettino is available to put pen-to-paper on a deal with a new club.

The Telegraph, meanwhile, name all of AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Newcastle United (widely-tipped as a potential destination for the South American of late) as interested parties.