At long last, arguably the worst will-he-won’t-he-of-course-he-will saga in modern football has finally being resolved. Mauricio Pochettino leaving Paris St. Germain at the end of the 2021/22 season wasn’t so much an open secret, as it was a movie whose trailer we saw since Karim Benzema’s shot trickled past by Gigi Donnarumma for his hat-trick at the Santiago Bernabeu in March. He might as well have started speaking to other clubs by then, as the die was more than cast. And, in what seemed like a pointless prolonging, his exit has eventually been confirmed.
Pochettino follows in the footsteps of Thomas Tuchel and Unai Emery as the latest manager to leave the Parc des Princes, all while leaving behind evidence that they were not quite the problem (probably not even a problem). Once again, another Project in Paris has failed, all while never really looking like it got off the ground. But while both Tuchel and Emery have landed on their feet (both managers have won European trophies since departing the French capital), that aftermath is the most important issue for the latest manager who’s been shown the door in Paris.
When Pochettino took the PSG job midway through the 2020/21 season, the Argentine had been out of work for over a year, having been dismissed by Tottenham in 2019. The stick that was used to beat Poch, particularly as a way to cast sneers over his time in north London, was that he won nothing. Two cup finals, failed assaults at the title, and endless social media jibes about ‘winning nothing’ were the mainstream points of his tenure at Spurs. Poch leaves PSG with a league and a cup title, and yet, they feel like even more miniscule achievements than the nothing he won with Spurs. After all, when success is a given, it’s rather academic, and when it’s academic, does it mean anything?
As such, and at the risk of sounding alarmist, there may be the sense of something fading with Pochettino. Throw in the finish to the 2018/19 season with Spurs, and, arguably through no fault of his own, he’s had a rather forgettable three years. Having a forgettable three-year period as a manager is no catastrophe, especially if that period involves a Champions League final, and two domestic titles. But having that forgettable period as a manager meant to attract the gaze of elite clubs can be a costly.
Suddenly, Pochettino is facing the threat of going into limbo. The manager announced himself onto 21st century football by showing he can throw a punch, but football has punched in the brutal way it knows how, and he looks to be on the losing side. There are no prime jobs available at the moment, and when they do become presentable, doubts are starting to be cast over the former Espanyol and Southampton gaffer. He won nothing with Spurs; and he changed nothing with PSG is the latest in the criticism section of the Poch rap sheet. Modern football moves with infuriatingly brisk impatience. One minute, you’re the talk of town; the next, you no longer matter, and slide into the ‘pundit-rumour-mill-figure’ pipeline. Your history doesn't matter as much as your immediate past does, and both play second fiddle to whether you're a name on everyone's lips anymore.
Case in point is Laurent Blanc, who, in 2013, after an impressive stint with Bordeaux was followed by the French national job, took charge at, of course, PSG. Three years later, Blanc was on his way out of the Parc des Princes, and for a while, he was a heavy first in the managerial rumour mill. Suddenly, by 2018, links with Manchester United and Juventus become links with Lyon, and that was it; his only job since was with Qatari side Al-Rayyan, who hired him in 2020, and sacked him this year. Blanc has entered has-been territory.
Such territory might not be the case for Pochettino yet, but the spectre of it lingers. And what would be worse is that this is an evidently talented manager who hasn’t had the chance to really put his stamp on a club and generate success. It’s one thing to be has-been, but Poch, for all the work he’s done in the past, might be a has-been that never really got the chance to be.
But again, the pace of modern football is (what may be) his last trump card. The way the game moves means a top job might be available in six months. However, the question would arise of whether that’s the right job for him, which would also birth the follow-up of whether Pochettino would have the luxury of the right job anymore. As the turbines of the modern game continues to spin, and wheels remain heavily in motion, this is a manager that is now up against the threat of falling into the abyss.
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