Mauricio Pochettino remains a beloved figure at Tottenham, a club where he had an outstanding record of consistency following his appointment from Southampton in May 2014.
He never finished lower than fifth in any full campaign in charge, including second place behind Chelsea in 2016-17 and third in 2015-16 and 2017-18.
The one question mark always placed against Pochettino, including when he finished sixth with Chelsea in 2023-24, was an inability to get his teams over the line to tangible success in England.
Pochettino claimed the first trophies of his managerial career with Paris St-Germain after leaving Spurs – the 2021 French Cup and 2022 Ligue 1 title – but the club’s hierarchy felt that was the minimum he should have achieved, given the squad at his disposal, and he did not see out his contract.
In England with Spurs, he was runner-up in the League Cup in 2014-15 and he reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 2016-17 and 2017-18. In 2018-19, he reached the Champions League final and the League Cup semi-finals.
In one season at Chelsea – a loveless relationship in which he could never shed his Spurs connections in the eyes of fans – he reached the FA Cup semi-finals and lost the League Cup final.
But Pochettino and Manchester United go back a long way, with the Argentine’s name associated with the club since he was spotted leaving a lunch appointment at Scott’s restaurant in Mayfair with Sir Alex Ferguson in 2016.
Ferguson was three years into his retirement, while Pochettino was building a reputation at Tottenham that the great Scot admired.
Pochettino called it “a meeting in London between colleagues, between a genius and an apprentice” – but, in that moment, a link was forged.
The Athletic’s Tom Bogert, who covers the USA national team, has also been talking to BBC Radio Manchester about his understanding of the Mauricio Pochettino developments.
Listen to his conversation with BBC Radio Manchester’s Michael Clarke and former Manchester United striker Fraizer Campbell below or on BBC Sounds here
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