Mauricio Pochettino will be one of the main candidates for the England employment if he remains unemployed and the position becomes available after Euro 2024.
Pochettino left Chelsea by mutual consent on Tuesday and will likely be of interest to Manchester United if the Old Trafford club sacked Erik ten Hag after the FA Cup final.
Saudi club Al-Ittihad are also expected to check out Pochettino through the club’s sporting director, Ramon Planes, who worked with the Argentine at Espanyol.
It is understood that Pochettino received a reward for leaving Chelsea, but it is currently unclear whether he will be able to return directly to work at another club or in the Premier League.
The England job has appealed to Pochettino for some time and he announced his interest in succeeding Southgate during the World Cup in Qatar two years ago.
Southgate is expected to step down as England manager if his side fail to win the Euros in Germany this summer.
Asked in an interview with The Athletic in 2022 if he would be interested in coaching England, Pochettino said: “Of course my relationship with England has always been very good. We have a very good relationship with the academies, trying to develop young players for the national team.
“I feel so comfortable here. You never know what happens. I’m open to everything.”
England player development history
Pochettino is well known to the Football Association’s technical director John McDermott, who would be influential in choosing any successor to Southgate, having worked closely with him at Tottenham Hotspur.
The 52-year-old has an impressive track record of developing English players who have graduated to the senior squad under him, the latest being Chelsea midfielder Cole Palmer.
Asked this season if he is proud of his record of supplying players to the England team, Pochettino said: “Always, when I arrived at Southampton, we were very proud to supply players to the national team because we are very grateful to English football because of the the way you received us, the welcome.
“As you make us feel welcome from another country, I think you all try to respect the identity of the countries, the culture and the identities of football and English football through the players.
“We love English culture and at all clubs, like Southampton and then Tottenham. We are grateful to give the England team the opportunity to have players with the chance to play.”
Asked why he felt such a connection to English football and the national team, having played for Argentina, Pochettino said: “We care, we are very respectful of the way you treat us. I am Italian through my great-grandfather. He moved to Argentina, then I moved to Spain, then France and then England. And you really understand when you start moving countries how people treat you.
“Sometimes not in a good way when you are foreigners. But when we were at Southampton, at Tottenham and now here [Chelsea], the English people treat us well. It’s an incredible thing. Not just us, our families too. That’s why I feel at home when I’m in England.”
Pochettino is not the only foreign manager interested in succeeding Southgate, with another former Chelsea manager, Thomas Tuchel, also said to be attracted to the role.
