Manchester United consider swoop for Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino – but this is what he'd cost

Mauricio Pochettino

The Sun believes that is the fee required to prise the Argentine from north London, as United consider their options following a difficult start to the season.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is under pressure at Old Trafford after an unconvincing 2019/20 campaign so far.

United needed penalties to edge past Rochdale in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, just three days on from their 2-0 defeat to West Ham in the Premier League.

And while the board has backed the Norwegian for now, the outlet believes Pochettino is a tempting possibility for them.

The Argentine is also struggling currently after seeing his side knocked out of the League Cup on penalties by Colchester on Tuesday.

The manager is said to have clashed with Danny Rose, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Kyle Walker-Peters, Eric Dier, Lucas Moura, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen as tensions grow in the dressing room.

Pochettino led Spurs to the Champions League final last season and was reportedly tempted by the Juventus job in the summer before Maurizio Sarri took over in Turin.

He signed a new five-year contract with Tottenham last summer that didn’t include any buyout clause, meaning that any interested suitors would have to pay out the rest of his £8.5m per season deal in full, which has just under four years left to run.

Another potential stumbling block is the relationship between the two clubs, as the sales of Teddy Sheringham, Michael Carrick and Dimitar Berbatov to the Red Devils in the past have resulted in a fractious relationship.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has already rejected an official approach from Real Madrid and an unofficial bid by Chelsea for his manager as he remains determined that Pochettino is the man to lead the club forward.

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Alasdair Mackenzie is a freelance journalist based in Rome, and a FourFourTwo contributor since 2015. When not pulling on the FFT shirt, he can be found at Reuters, The Times and the i. An Italophile since growing up on a diet of Football Italia on Channel 4, he now counts himself among thousands of fans sharing a passion for Ross County and Lazio.