Is Mauricio Pochettino the secret key to bring Lionel Messi to PSG?

“Waiting for Santa Claus.” Few days ago, this was the title of the French sport newspapers L’Equipe on the cover with the photo of Mauricio Pochettino. A couple of days ago, the board of Paris Saint Germain has sacked Thomas Tuchel. According to the rumors, PSG has already decided to hire Mauricio Pochettino, the former Tottenham coach, as replacement and it seems that the official press release on the new appointment will be issued shortly.

Unless something highly unpredictable happens, Mauricio Pochettino shall be the new manager of PSG and the official announcement should be released soon. In a previous article that you can read here, we have already discussed the difficulties that a manager like Pochettino may face at PSG. However, in France another rumor is spreading very fast: Mauricio Pochettino was chosen for the outstanding coaching skills as well as for the preferred relationship the Argentinian coach has with Lionel Messi. Bringing Tottenham to the final of Champions Leagues is definitely an achievement that few managers could have reached. And we all know that Mauricio Pochettino is one of the best coaches in the world right now. But this was not the only reason why Pochettino is about to be announced as the new coach.

Mauricio Pochettino has a special fan: Lionel Messi. La Pulga has strongly recommended the board of Barcelona last summer to hire Mauricio Pochettino instead of Ronald Koeman. However, as we all know, the board did not follow the suggestion of Messi starting a sort of cold war between the board and the player. Due to this ongoing conflict, Lionel Messi has apparently decided to leave Barcelona. And, here the whole picture starts to take shape: hiring Pochettino was a very strong signal to Lionel Messi. It is no secret that PSG has tried to sign Messi last summer when the player decided to leave the Spanish club. However, the clause or even just any compensation in the face of the legal dispute between the club and the player made the deal impractical.

As of today, we do not want to go too far, and we are still waiting for the official press release of PSG announcing Pochettino as the new manager. However, the rumor about Mauricio Pochettino and Lionel Messi could an interesting hint to find out more about the future of the Argentinian superstar.