Speculation regarding Antonio Conte’s future at Tottenham Hotspur continues to do the rounds.
The Italian ruffled some feathers at Spurs after the Southampton draw last weekend, to put it mildly.
Conte called a number of his stars “selfish” and claimed they are afraid of playing under pressure.
He also appeared to criticise Tottenham’s ownership as he questioned the success under the current regime.
Plenty of managers have been linked with the Spurs reins, including Mauricio Pochettino.
However, speculation about the Argentine has been petering out in recent days.
Now, Jeremy Cross has claimed that Pochettino is looking for a bigger and better role than Tottenham.
The journalist spoke about the 51-year-old on the Football Digest Podcast.
“We all know that he was successful there before,” said Cross.
“He got them to a Champions League final and he would be a popular appointment with the supporters.
“Would he want to go back there? He’s holding out for something bigger and better than Tottenham by the looks of it.
“I’m led to believe he wants the Real Madrid job so there are various obstacles in the way there if Levy wants to go for Pochettino.”
DREAM V REALITY
Pochettino returning to Spurs in their time of need and taking them back to the top table is a nice premise on paper.
Indeed, one recent report suggested that Tottenham’s players had been in touch with the Argentine of late.
However, there’s also a lot that could go wrong.
What if Pochettino finds himself with the same issues that he had when he was at N17?
He could find himself under heightened – perhaps even over-inflated – expectations based on his prior time at Spurs.
And if things don’t go to plan, it could tarnish Pochettino’s legacy.
With that in mind, maybe it’s best if a new manager takes the Tottenham reins and starts with a clean slate.