Pochettino open to Spurs return, not before '26 WC

United States men's national team boss Mauricio Pochettino has said he would still be interested in returning to manage Tottenham Hotspur in the future, but not before the 2026 World Cup.

Pochettino helped Spurs to reach the Champions League final before leaving in 2019 and going onto manage Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and now the USMNT.

In an interview with Sky News published on Tuesday, the Argentine coach said he still uses Spurs chairman Daniel Levy as a sounding board but he would not return to the club before leading the U.S. at a home World Cup next year.

"It's always about the timing," Pochettino said when asked if he there was ever a possibility he could be managing England rather than the U.S.

"I was talking with my former president Daniel Levy and he says always football is about timings and he always told me, 'Mauricio, always it's timing.'

"It's true because he has experience in football and it's a privilege to be head coach of the England national team but the timings sometimes are not in the same, in the moment that you can be available like this and this option disappears."

Levy has hired four permanent managers at Spurs since Pochettino's exit, with incumbent Ange Postecoglou under pressure amid a continued run of poor form.

When asked if the timing could ever align for a return to Spurs, Pochettino said: "Look, when I left the club I always remember one interview I said I would like one day to come back to Tottenham and that is of course."

"I am in the USA, I am not going to going to talk about that, but what I said then still after six years or five years, I still feel in my heart that, yes, I would like one day to come back. We see the timing, like Daniel said."