At a glance:
- Pochettino wanted Sadio Mane and Georginio Wijnaldum
- Both players moved to Liverpool in 2016
- Liverpool beat Tottenham in 2019 UCL final
Mauricio Pochettino is arguably the best thing to happen to Tottenham Hotspur in the modern era.
The Argentine was a likeable personality and came within touching distance of domestic and European glory at the club.
He didn’t win a single trophy in charge of the club, but the brand of football Tottenham played under him will be remembered for years.
Pochettino was linked with a return to Tottenham earlier this year before Roberto De Zerbi’s arrival.
And now, the USMNT boss has been talking about his former club.
Costly transfer miss for Tottenham
Under the Argentine, the North London outfit were always in the running for a top four finish and played some attractive football in Europe as well.
In the summer of 2016, Pochettino wanted to bolster his squad after finishing third in the league.
And while he did manage to sign some key players like Moussa Sissoko and Victor Wanyama, Tottenham missed out on two key transfer targets to Liverpool: Sadio Mane and Georginio Wijnaldum.
Almost 10 years later, the Argentine admits his team could have done well with the former Liverpool pair, who went on to win everything at Anfield under Jurgen Klopp.
“I can tell you that we tried, I think it was in 2016 when we finished the season, we tried to sign two players,” said Pochettino on the Overlap.
“After they moved to another club, they won the Premier League and beat us in the Champions League final.”
“We wanted to sign [Sadio] Mane and [Georginio] Wijnaldum and for different reasons we couldn’t achieve that, but sometimes you need this luck and this timing.
“I remember that we were interested in them, but they decided to move to Liverpool and after they both beat us in 2019 [in the Champions League final].
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“I saw when Jurgen [Klopp] came to play his first game in England against us at the old White Hart Lane. Then, when they beat us in the final [in Madrid], it was a completely new team, a new squad, when we had kept the same structure.”
Tottenham have missed out on some key players over the years. And now, it’s time we add Mane and Wijnaldum to that list.
The pair were indispensable for Klopp at Anfield and played more often than not when fully fit.
