Pochettino plays down PSG rumours: “Every week I’m fired”

Mauricio Pochettino says he is not too concerned by speculation around his future at Paris Saint-Germain, having grown used to the repeated reports of his imminent dismissal. After another season in which PSG failed to win the Champions League, it has been reported the club will move on from both coach Pochettino and sporting director Leonardo.

While a host of coaches have been mooted as potential successors to Pochettino, former Monaco and Lille chief Luis Campos is the favourite to come in as Leonardo’s replacement. As things stand, though, PSG have not removed either man from his position. And Pochettino claims he is still expecting to lead the team into next season, telling Esport3: “I have one year left on my contract and there are a lot of rumours. Every week I am fired. PSG is causing this kind of thing. The club is trying to reinvent itself. The president will soon explain his new project, but I am calm.”

The former Tottenham manager is confident he has overcome the noise generated by PSG’s Champions League defeat to Real Madrid, having subsequently won Ligue 1. “PSG are desperate to win the Champions League,” he said. “The goal is to win it, and it is normal for ‘storms’ to be generated, but we reversed it by winning the league, just as [Manchester] City won it in England. With the expectations and the dressing room we have, it has been a continuous learning. We were one step away from eliminating Madrid – as were Chelsea, City and Liverpool. We won the same [at PSG] as [Carlo] Ancelotti, [Laurent] Blanc and other coaches, but there is a lot of impatience at the club.”

Espanyol past

Pochettino has been linked with the Barcelona job, now held by Xavi, throughout his coaching career, but he explained why that move could never happen. “Neither my children nor my wife would have let me,” he said, “and I have such strong ties to Espanyol that it would be impossible.”