Mauricio Pochettino will not quit Southampton following Nicola Cortese resignation, explaining the 'situation is different'

The Argentinian had previously declared that he would leave if Cortese departed but he insists he is in the middle of a project at the club

Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino could choose to leave the club after the resignation of chairman Nicola Cortese on Wednesday (GETTY IMAGES)

Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino is staying with the club, the club have confirmed on their official Twitter account.

Speculation regarding his exit has been growing since club chairman Nicola Cortese confirmed his resignation on Wednesday night, with Pochettino having previously confirmed he would also leave should the Italian businessman exit the club.

But despite the reports, Pochettino has confirmed he remains "100 per cent" committed to the club, and he will be in charge when they travel to Sunderland for Saturday's Premier League lunchtime kick-off.

"I have a professional responsibility to everyone at the club, and the fans," Pochettino said at a pre-match press conference.

"I want to show my gratitude to Nicola Cortese. I believed in him, he brought me here, my staff and my family. I am full of gratitude to him.

"Eight months ago when this happened we were finishing my first season and I did say that if he left there would be no sense for me to stay.

"The new situation is different. We are in the middle of our new project. Nicola knows of my decision to stay; I have spoken to him. I am fully committed to the staff, the players, the club and it would make no sense to leave in the middle of our path."

Club owner Katharina Liebherr has begun the process of searching for a new chief executive officer, with the daughter of the former owner and late Markus Liebherr taking on the role of non-executive chairman following Cortese's departure.

Cortese's departure has thrown the future of stars like Luke Shaw into doubt.

But Pochettino vowed no player will leave the club during the January transfer window without his authority.

"I want to make one thing clear: no one is for sale at Southampton, no one," he said.

"And I believe the same thing. No player that I don't want to leave will leave this club."

Pochettino said he wants to honour the remaining 17 months of his Southampton contract.

But he admitted it is too soon to say for sure at this point whether that will happen.

"It's very hard to say at the moment, I think it's very soon to say about that," said Pochettino.

"But when I signed with Nicola, and we signed a number of players, I'm 100 per cent committed to the two years of my contract and I'm 100 per cent committed to those players.

"I have a contract and a responsibility to that."

Pochettino said new chairman Liebherr has given him and his staff her full backing.

The 41-year-old said he expects Liebherr to appoint someone to handle transfers specifically, as she searches for a chief executive officer to replace Cortese.

"I met her for five minutes today," he said. "She told me we have her full support, she wants the club to be stable, and that we need to look forward to the future.

"It's still too soon to talk about this (who deals with transfers), we will see in the future how the tasks are unfolded at this club, who does what at this club.

"I'm sure the club will designate a person to speak to about all of that."

Revealing Cortese backed his decision to stay at the club, Pochettino said he does not know exactly why the executive chairman resigned.

"What's quite clear is I have a very good relationship with Nicola Cortese," he said. "He agrees with my decision to stay and there's nothing more I can say about that right now.

"He only asked me for one thing and that's to try to win on Saturday.

"I don't know (why he decided to leave), it's quite difficult to say, I found out yesterday as you did about his decision.

"Of course it has surprised me quite a bit, the same as the people involved with this club, and I knew nothing about his departure."

Manchester City are among clubs being linked with a big-money offer for teenage defender Shaw.

But Pochettino said he is not aware of any official bids.

He added: "It's clear that Luke Shaw has a contract, and that's a question for the new chairman."