Former Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino quickly became the leading candidate to take over at Barcelona following the team’s humiliating Champions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich.
According to Diario AS, a move for the Argentine has caused division among the higher-ups because of his Espanyol past and his comments from a couple of years ago where he said that he’d rather work back on his farm in Argentina than manage Barcelona.
The report also claims that heavyweights in the Barcelona dressing room are also against the move. They would prefer former club legend Xavi Hernandez to take over.
Pochettino had been linked with taking over when the club sacked Ernesto Valverde. But they opted for Quique Setien instead.
Spanish radio program Carrusel Deportivo are also reporting that his Espanyol past is the biggest roadblock in hiring him.
They go on to state that there would be plenty of supporter backlash if they were to appoint Pochettino. An interesting excuse given they did not seem to take that into account after the Liverpool defeat when plenty of the supporters were asking for him to be sacked.
