With the speculation linking both Tottenham Hotspur centre-half Toby Alderweireld and manager Mauricio Pochettino with a potential switch to Old Trafford and Manchester United, well, it’s part of the pieces of speculation that just won’t go away.
This week the BBC conducted an interesting interview with Louis van Gaal where he discussed his career and his time at the Red Devils.
From a wider footballing perspective, it makes a good read and although he had some success in Manchester, it was certainly a mixed period, where it’s fair to say, it ended badly.
The key point for Spurs fans is he spoke about an element of regret at heading north, rather than taking a shot in London, having met with Chairman Daniel Levy.
“Tottenham were a better selection because Manchester United were an old team and I knew I would have to transform them. Was it the wrong choice? Maybe, but I follow my heart. I worked at the number one team in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and now also in England.”
I don’t have a crystal ball and I’ve no idea how van Gaal would’ve worked out had he chosen us, but arguably we got our selection right with Pochettino. Given his wider words about his time at Old Trafford, it’s also a good message for Poch to take, as whatever some fans may think, but as we arguably continue to improve (maybe not as fast as we’d all like) part of that is down to his relationship with Levy and the understanding they have.
It’s not quite the same United now, but as Poch has intimated himself, he’s already put the hard legwork in on creating his philosophy at Spurs, why would he want to rip that up and start again if there was no need to?