Soccer-New Manchester United manager Mauricio Pochettino

Nov 13 - Factbox on Argentine Mauricio Pochettino, who was announced as the new manager of Manchester United on Friday.

PLAYING CAREER

• The centre back began his career with Newell's Old Boys in 1988 and won the Argentine Primera Division in 1991.

• Signed for Spain's Espanyol in 1994, making over 200 appearances and winning the King's Cup before joining Paris St Germain in 2001.

• Made his Argentina debut in 1999 and earned 20 caps.

• Pochettino rejoined Espanyol in 2004 after a brief spell at Bordeaux and won a second King's Cup in 2006 before retiring at 34.

COACHING CAREER

• After retirement, Pochettino had a stint as assistant manager of Espanyol's women's side.

• In January 2009, he took charge of the Espanyol men's side who were third-bottom and took them to 10th in LaLiga.

• Espanyol narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Europa League in 2011, with Pochettino developing a reputation for bringing young players through the academy.

• At the start of 2012-13, Pochettino expressed concerns about the club's financial situation, and left with the team bottom of LaLiga in November 2012.

SOUTHAMPTON

• Pochettino replaced Nigel Adkins as manager of newly-promoted Premier League side Southampton in January 2013.

• Despite being relatively unknown in England, Pochettino guided the club to a 14th-place finish after adopting a high-pressing, attacking style of play and continuing to develop home-grown talent.

• Pochettino led Southampton to eighth in the 2013-14 season, their joint-highest Premier League finish at the time.

• With a year left on his contract and uncertainty surrounding key players, Pochettino joined Tottenham Hotspur.

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

• Spurs finished fifth in his first season, also reaching the League Cup final.

• They finished third in 2015-16 to claim a Champions League spot for the first time since 2010-11.

• Pochettino continued to foster young talent and the likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Eric Dier blossomed at the club.

• The Argentine penned a five-year deal in May 2016 and Tottenham maintained their upward trajectory, finishing second and then third again.

• Pochettino, dubbed 'Magic' by the Tottenham faithful, signed another five-year contract in May 2018.

• Despite operating with a lower transfer budget than other clubs and playing at Wembley while their new stadium was built, Spurs reached their first Champions League final, losing 2-0 to Liverpool.

• A poor start to the 2019-20 campaign and a 7-2 Champions League loss to Bayern Munich led to his sacking.

PARIS ST GERMAIN

• Ligue 1 champions PSG appointed him head coach in January 2021.

• He won the French Cup and French Super Cup in 2021 before securing the Ligue 1 title the following season.

• PSG were knocked out of the 2021-22 Champions League in the last 16 and Pochettino was sacked at the end of the season.

CHELSEA

• He arrived at Chelsea ahead of the 2023-24 campaign as the club's big-spending new owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital looked to freshen things up after a 12th-placed finish.

• After a poor start, he turned things around and they won their last five league games to qualify for Europe.

• They also reached the League Cup final, losing to Liverpool.

• Pochettino left the club by mutual consent after one season in charge.

UNITED STATES

• He took over as the US men's national team head coach in September 2024.

• Pochettino led them to the semi-finals of CONCACAF Nations League before a runners-up finish at the 2025 Gold Cup with a relatively inexperienced side.

• Co-hosts US topped their 2026 World Cup group before losing to Belgium in the last-16.

• In August 2026, Pochettino signed a new contract until 2030.

• He will take charge at United following the national team's double-header with Haiti. REUTERS