Mauricio Pochettino backtracks on ‘exaggerated’ stance of never managing Barcelona

The former Spurs boss acknowledges it would still be a hard sell to take over at the Camp Nou

Mauricio Pochettino has backtracked somewhat on his earlier statement that it would be “impossible” for him to manage Barcelona.

The former Tottenham boss used to play and coach at Espanyol, local rivals of the Camp Nou club, and suggested that link made it unrealistic to ever consider the switch.

But in an interview with 90 minutes, as reported by Ole, Pochettino acknowledged that he made an error by ‘exaggerating’ the fact of a return being improbable.

Pochettino was recently linked with the Barcelona job, before Ronald Koeman was appointed.

“I made a mistake in the way I put it across that it would be impossible in the future to manage Barcelona,” he said.

“I was a little bit exaggerating to not leave any hint of doubts.

“It’s obvious that the whole world who knows me knows that, because of my past and many other reasons, it would be difficult to relate my name with the club.

“There are some things that cannot be joined.”

Pochettino has been out of work since leaving Spurs in November last year.

He has been linked with Juventus and Monaco, as well as Barca, but continues to bide his team before a return to management.