What does Tottenham sacking Pochettino mean for Everton?

It has been just another humdrum international break on the Everton front with the biggest news so far being Moise Kean’s inability to be punctual, and Blues and media alike turning that into speculation about the player’s character, motivation, future and what not.

Until about an hour or so ago, that is.

Tottenham Hotspur decided to truly set the cat among the pigeons this evening by announcing that Mauricio Pochettino and his entire coaching staff have been sacked with immediate effect.

While the Argentine has firmly entrenched Spurs in the top six and just last season got the North London side to their first ever Champions League final. it appears he is paying the price for Tottenham’s poor start to the 2019-20 Premier League season. They currently sit in 14th place, tied with the Blues with 14 points but ahead on goal difference. Pochettino had been with Spurs for a full five years now, and the despite his excellent record of 160 wins, 60 draws and 73 losses, his legacy will be his inability to win any trophies at Spurs.

Marco Silva has been under fire at Everton after a similarly poor start, and Spurs choosing to pull the trigger could make things interesting for the Toffees Board. Choosing to continue with Silva could be perceived as a lack of ambition, but then Pochettino also has had five years to build a legacy while Silva and Marcel Brands have only been working together for a year and a half.

That Pochettino is a better manager than Silva there can be no doubt. He is tactically astute and embodies many of the same characteristics that the Portuguese manager has tried to instill at Everton, but better. He certainly has had higher quality players at Tottenham to do it with, but when you take into consideration how little he has had to spend under the tight-fisted Daniel Levy plus the number of youngsters he’s blooded in the senior squad, his achievements are no less than remarkable.

Spurs spent around £50m in his first year with a negative net spend, and about £70m (net spend £25m), £112m (net spend £25m), £0 and £88m (net spend £60m) in the subsequent seasons. That is about the same amount of money that Everton have shelled out in the same period, and yet despite the two clubs sitting as close as they are in this season’s league table, one organization is well ahead of the other in terms of where they stand in the world of football and future prospects.

Should Everton follow suit in sacking Silva and bringing Pochettino in? Bayern Munich are the immediate favourites to snap him up after firing Niko Kovacs earlier this season, but Barcelona and Arsenal could also be interested in the 47-year-old.

Speculation will now shift to who replaces Poch in London. The timing of the sacking is very strange, why the back half of the international break and not earlier during this fortnight? Also, with no replacement named (or identified?), who will be taking over as interim manager?

The currently unemployed rabble-rouser Jose Mourinho is one that many Blues wanted to take over at Finch Farm, and he immediately becomes the favourite for the job at Spurs. Napoli are having a rocky start to their Serie A season, and with rumours of players revolting against Carlo Ancelotti he could be available very soon. Former Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri is another big name that could possibly take over.

Brendan Rodgers has gotten Leicester City off to a sparkling start this season and is also in the bookies’ reckoning, though it will take a lot to pry him away from the Foxes, while AFC Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe has also been linked.

Silva for the longest time had been the bookies’ favourite to be the first Premier League manager sacked this season, but it looks like he’s hung on for now while Pochettino is the one who’s been hung out to dry.