Mauricio Pochettino’s coy comments on Man Utd job after PSG outclassed by Man City

Manchester United manager target Mauricio Pochettino kept his cards close to his chest when asked whether he will replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Old Trafford. The former Tottenham boss was in Manchester last night but was busy seeing his Paris Saint Germain side suffer a Champions League defeat against United’s rivals Manchester City. 

Pochettino is the favourite to succeed Solskjaer following the Norwegian’s dismissal last weekend.  

It has been widely reported that the Argentine would be prepared to depart the French side and join United, where he has been admired for a long time.  

PSG are top of Ligue 1 but Pochettino is yet to find a way of getting Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe to properly click.  

Mbappe scored the opening goal in his side’s 2-1 defeat against City but the Premier League team kept his colleagues quiet. 

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That paved the way for Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus to complete a memorable comeback.  

Pochettino was quizzed on his future after the game but remained coy. He insisted that his players were aware of his situation but did not go further on what that situation is.  

“The players know very well our situation,” Pochettino said after the game. 

“We know their situation. We are living in a business that rumours are there, sometimes negative, sometimes positive. That is not a thing to talk about – the rumours.”

Pochettino is the favourite to be the long-term successor to Solskjaer but United are reportedly willing to appoint an interim head coach until the end of the season.  

“It’s an important result for the players, tonight is not about me by any stretch.  

“It’s obviously been an emotional few days. The first person I spoke to after Ed [Woodward] asked me to do this role was Ole, to almost see what he thought about it because I felt that was the right thing to do.  

“I have a responsibility to be here managing the team and I take great pride in that. It wasn’t about me tonight though, it was about getting through [the group].   

“It was a massive game, when you get to this stage in the Champions League it can swing so easily both ways, so it was vital we came here and got the right result and we managed to do that so I’m delighted.”