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Mauricio Pochettino: Negotiating with Daniel Levy is not painful - he is easy to do business with
Mauricio Pochettino has claimed he finds it easy to negotiate with the man who holds the keys to his Tottenham Hotspur future, chairman Daniel Levy.
Manchester United have made Pochettino their No 1 choice to succeed Jose Mourinho and the Old Trafford club travel to Wembley to face Spurs on Sunday.
The game will place greater scrutiny on Pochettino’s future, with Levy set to host the men who want to poach his manager in the Wembley lounge set up for the directors of each club ahead of kick-off.
Sir Alex Ferguson is among Pochettino’s United backers and the Scotsman famously described the experience of dealing with Levy over Dimitar Berbatov’s move from Spurs as “more painful than my hip replacement”.
United have not traded with Tottenham since the Berbatov deal, having previously taken the likes of Michael Carrick and Teddy Sheringham, but Pochettino believes he can sweet talk Levy.
Asked about Ferguson’s view of Levy, Pochettino replied: “For me, it’s the opposite. For me, if there was one person that was easy to do business with, it was Daniel.”
Pochettino insisted he was joking after he added: “Historically, other [Spurs] managers were the opponent of Daniel, they always fight with him. I think it’s only me maybe that has a good relationship with him.”
Due to the fact he does not employ an agent, Pochettino, himself, negotiated his £8.5 million-a-year deal, which will still have four years to run in the summer.
Pochettino clearly believes he drove a hard bargain with his employer and yet Levy will be delighted he has the 46-year-old tied to a long-term deal ahead of a summer in which United and Real Madrid could make approaches.
On the subject of what it was like trying to negotiate a contract with Levy, Pochettino said: “For me, it was not difficult, I think it was more difficult for him than me. It was difficult because I am the manager and he cannot upset me. If we are talking about extending a contract or giving me more money, you need to be careful.
“With agents, you can talk very openly and say anything you want and the agent will manage the situation. But when you are talking directly to your manager, you need to be careful because one word can change the negotiation or change your mind. For him, that was new and it was tough every time he needed to talk to me.”
There was no hesitation when Pochettino was asked whether he was a hard negotiator.
“Yes,” he said. “For me, I negotiate harder when I am talking about my staff. They deserve a lot of credit. I am tougher when I talk about them because I feel a massive responsibility when I talk about them because they depend on me.”
Tottenham used to be powerless when United came calling, but have demonstrated how the gap between the clubs has closed by keeping the likes of Eric Dier, Danny Rose and Toby Alderweireld, who have all interested the Old Trafford club.
While explaining how Spurs could now say no to United, Pochettino may have hit on why United’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward may find Levy a good deal more difficult to negotiate with than he himself has found.
Pochettino said: “It’s true that today the Premier League is so competitive and today for Tottenham to go to, I don’t know, to Southampton and sign a player like they used to do, like with Bale – today, it’s so difficult. It’s the same situation that happens with big clubs. Like you say, the example of Manchester picking players from Tottenham, Tottenham picking players from whoever, so I think everything has changed.”
Sunday's game represents the first big challenge of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s caretaker reign and a United victory would strengthen his claim for the permanent job.
Pochettino revealed that he and Tottenham goalkeeper coach Toni Jimenez cheered Solskjaer’s dramatic Champions League-winning goal for United against Bayern Munich from inside the Nou Camp in 1999.
“I was there when he scored,” said Pochettino. “I was there with Toni Jimenez watching a fantastic game and how I shouted for a Manchester United goal was incredible.
“I don’t remember how we found the tickets. But I do remember that we were in a very bad place and we started to walk around the stand of the Camp Nou.
“We were in front, in the same level, but in front of the presidents’ area. But we started to walk, we crossed and jumped, up, up and up, and we arrived to the presidents. We found two seats there and we sat like this [arms folded]. It was fantastic.
“The last minute, when Sheringham scored, when Schmeichel went up to the penalty box. We said: ‘Wow, amazing game, now injury time.' And then, when Solskjaer scored, we were shouting, celebrating, I don’t know why. Because in that moment we were neutral. But the atmosphere was amazing. And now it’s a coincidence that we are meeting. Sure, we’ll talk about it on Sunday.”