MAURICIO POCHETTINO HAS been officially named as the new Tottenham Hotspur manager on a five-year contract.
The appointment was confirmed by the official club website as the Argentinian takes over from Tim Sherwood, whose reign spanned from last December to a fortnight ago.
The decision had been widely-anticipated and sees Pochettino make the move from Southampton.
Pochettino guided Southampton to their highest-ever Premier League finish of eighth place last season. He was credited during his 18-month term at St Mary’s with the development of home-grown players like Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Jay Rodriguez and James Ward-Prowse.
Previously Pochettino had been at the helm in La Liga of RCD Espanyol before making the move, after a spell in charge of nearly four years, to the Premier League in November 2012.
“In Mauricio I believe we have a head coach who, with his high energy, attacking football, will embrace the style of play we associate with our club,” remarked club chairman Daniel Levy.
“He has a proven ability to develop each player as an individual, whilst building great team spirit and a winning mentality. We have a talented squad that Mauricio is excited to be coaching next season.”
“This is a club with tremendous history and prestige and I am honoured to have been given this opportunity to be its head coach,” stated Pochettino.
“There is an abundance of top-class talent at the club and I am looking forward to starting work with the squad.
“Tottenham Hotspur has a huge following across the world and I have great admiration for the passion the fans show for this team. We are determined to give the supporters the kind of attacking football and success that we are all looking to achieve.”
Pochettino is joined by Jesús Pérez (Assistant Head Coach), Miguel D’Agostino (First Team Coach) and Toni Jiménez (Goalkeeper Coach) with whom he previously worked at both Southampton and Espanyol.
In his playing career Pochettino made his debut with Argentinian side Newell’s Old Boys at the age of 16 and won the Argentine Primera División with them in 1991.
Two spells at Espanyol followed from 1994, sandwiched between time with Paris Saint-Germain and Bordeaux. He won two Copa del Rey titles with Espanyol and also earned 20 international caps with Argentina.