Reports: Mauricio Pochettino agrees to become next USMNT manager

Former Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, and Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino reportedly has agreed to take charge of the U.S. men’s national team, and to lead it into the cohosting of the 2026 World Cup.

A series of reports emerged late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, first in the United States, then in Europe, that Pochettino has said yes to an offer. There had been reports since last week that Pochettino was among the U.S. Soccer Federation’s top targets.

It undoubtedly would be a terrific hire, between the 52-year-old Argentine’s coaching pedigree and his personal background. He has long been regarded as an elite coach and person-manager, and his fluency in Spanish would command attention from this country’s Latino community — a part of the American soccer landscape that has long been crucial, but too often overlooked.

A source with knowledge of the matter said the deal is not officially done yet. The two sides haven’t signed anything, and U.S. Soccer’s board of directors has yet to approve the contract — a move that’s required for any coaching hire.

The same source said Pochettino’s hiring could be done before next month’s national team camp, but he is not expected to run the camp. The U.S. squad will gather in Kansas City, Kan., for a few days before playing Canada there on Sept. 7, then playing New Zealand in Cincinnati on Sept. 10.

U.S. under-20 men’s team coach Mikey Varas will run the September camp. Pochettino certainly could be in attendance, but he won’t be fully at the helm.

ESPN also noted that Pochettino can’t actually sign a contract for the U.S. job right now. His previous employer, English club Chelsea, still owes him money from his one-season stint there that ended in May. (Coincidentally, Chelsea’s owner is an American, Todd Boehly.)

The U.S. men have been without a manager since early July, when Gregg Berhalter was fired after the Americans crashed out of the Copa América in the group stage on home turf.

Pochettino has never coached a national team, nor has he worked in the United States. But the Argentine has known U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker since a time in 2013 when they briefly overlapped at English club Southampton.

Crocker was the club’s academy chief back then, and Pochettino was the manager who took the Saints to an eighth-place finish in the Premier League in the 2013-14 season. That was the best campaign since 2003 for a club that fell to England’s third tier in the years in between.

Southampton was Pochettino’s second coaching stop. His first was Spain’s Espanyol from 2009 to 2012. That’s also where he spent the most time in a playing career that spanned four clubs from 1989 to 2006, plus Argentina’s national team from 1999 to 2003.

Tottenham hired Pochettino from Southampton in 2014, and he was at the helm until late 2019. Spurs had long been renowned (and still are) for instability, but he led the club to top-five league finishes every year he was there, including second place in 2017. He also guided the club to its first Champions League final in 2019.

Pochettino was fired the following fall after a bad start to the ensuing season. He didn’t take another head coaching job until January 2021, when he went to Paris Saint-Germain to oversee Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, and Neymar. He was well-received at a club where he’d played from 2001 to 2003, and whose coaching job has long been renowned as a circus.

But while Pochettino reached the Champions League semis in 2021 and won the French league in 2022, PSG dismissed him that July.

A year after that, he went to Chelsea, which might be the most volatile of all these clubs. Pochettino steered the Blues to sixth place in the Premier League, even though he didn’t always get along with his bosses, who bought players he didn’t want and sold players he did. He left Chelsea by mutual consent after last season.

While at Chelsea, Pochettino overlapped for a while with current U.S. women’s team manager Emma Hayes. From all accounts, they seemed to get along well.

» READ MORE: Matt Crocker had big decisions to make after the U.S. flopped at the Copa América