Pochettino’s Manchester United interest is as natural as it is disruptive to the US

As Mauricio Pochettino left the podium to close his final press conference of the last international window, he offered an ambiguous farewell.

“See you next …” Pochettino began as he headed to the tunnels of Allianz Field in Saint Paul, before cutting his sentence short. Then, a bit of a sing-song: “See you next, see you next.”

You don’t need an AI clanker’s autocomplete function to try closing the sentence. “See you next month” would have been synonymous with “see you next window”, after all. Still, the farewell felt poignant given questions about whether Pochettino was going to last a full four-year cycle as US men’s national team head coach.

In hindsight, maybe he had omitted adding something along the lines of: see you next, before I’m off to my next project.

From the moment that Pochettino and US Soccer announced his contract renewal in August, it was tough for many to imagine he would don his lavish safari shirts on the US sideline at the 2030 World Cup. This was Mauricio Pochettino, after all, a name brand in club management whose résumé teemed with unfinished business. Few great coaches hang their hat on being Premier League and Champions League runners-up.

Gone are the days where clubs with major financial considerations pull the plug on a whim. The time to strike is now at the start of an international window, when the next game isn’t for another couple of weeks. This serves as a crucial time to meet the squad, put them through their paces and hatch an initial scheme to stop the rot.

That puts international federations like US Soccer in an unenviable position. Pochettino is among the most eligible options for the Big Clubs, ensuring his continuing presence on managerial wishlists. And as long as that remains the case, the most likely window for advances from club suitors will be right in the stretch of time where a national team coach works hardest.

In September, that meant reheating years-old discourses about the apparent irresistibility of Tottenham Hotspur. Before the World Cup, Milan had come calling. And now, the focus turns to Old Trafford.

The attraction is logical. For over a decade, United have tested every managerial archetype possible since Sir Alex Ferguson called time on his illustrious career. Domestic options who punched above their weight class; chronic winners; onetime supernovas, with implosion all but inevitable; club legends; club custodians; young options ready for a Premier League closeup. Their tenures all ended the same.

Pochettino blends some of the best traits of Louis van Gaal and José Mourinho with a record of doing the work United hoped would happen under Ruben Amorim and Michael Carrick. His work building Tottenham into a threat on all fronts bolstered his culture-building cachet, showing his success at Espanyol and Southampton could scale. Even though his time at Paris Saint-Germain failed to yield their long-coveted Champions League title, he had experienced managing the egos of Neymar, Mbappé and Messi. Chelsea tested his tolerance for ownership-meddling. All of these factors inform Manchester United at present.

So no, the idea of Pochettino leaving the US so soon into his second term is hardly a shock. If it wasn’t to be United, or Tottenham, then he’d be a hot commodity if Real Madrid were to quickly abandon their reunion with Mourinho. If not them, then perhaps Milan again if their campaign were to sour before the festive season. And so on.

US Soccer deserves some credit for adequately preparing. For one thing, Pochettino’s retention was only made possible thanks to a billionaire super-donor, Ken Griffin. So while his wages dwarfed those of his predecessors, it hadn’t directly come at the expense of the federation’s other teams, initiatives or grassroots efforts.

The real boon is his release clause, a reported $10m (£7.5m) option that only a Big Club could afford to spring. Had Pochettino left after the World Cup, coach and federation would have parted with nothing more exchanged than a handshake and some pleasantries. Instead, they forged an insurance policy to make up for what could have been if Pochettino had stayed for a full cycle.

Of course, piles of money don’t qualify for World Cups. Should this international window be Pochettino’s last with the US, the onus will be on the federation to do what it couldn’t this summer and find an alternative to lead a program into an exciting new era. It would be a boon to the federation if that $10m pot was kept on standby to help foot the next coach’s wages, keeping the pool of possible candidates open and deep.

US Soccer will need to nail the next hire to reassure fans who fell for the team during their entertaining run at this year’s World Cup. That will probably be a project-by-committee, as the federation hasn’t seemed antsy to replace Matt Crocker after he quit his role as sporting director in April. And, if Pochettino was unlikely to be in the role all the way until 2030, perhaps it is a blessing that a split comes while the cycle is still dawning.