Mauricio Pochettino is set to hold talks with Ligue 1 club Nice after being overlooked by Chelsea to replace Thomas Tuchel this month.
Blues co-owner Todd Boehly moved quickly to prise Graham Potter away from Brighton once the decision had been made to dismiss Tuchel. Potter, 47, was always the Blues' first choice to succeed the German but Pochettino was another high-calibre candidate who was sounded out by Boehly.
Pochettino was in the running for the Manchester United vacancy earlier this year, however, the Old Trafford hierarchy eventually decided to press ahead with plans to appoint Erik ten Hag instead. The Argentine was available without a club attachment following his dismissal by Paris Saint-Germain earlier this summer.
Despite the French giants wrapping up the Ligue 1 crown in April, the former Tottenham Hotspur boss was booed by large sections of the home crowd with a perception that he was responsible for several below-par performances across the season. Christophe Galtier was appointed as his successor at the Parc des Princes.
PSG were eliminated from the Champions League at the round-of-stage by eventual winners Real Madrid and also crashed out early in the Coupe de France with a humiliating defeat to Nice. Galtier, 55, has previously managed Lille and Nice, leading the latter to a fifth-place finish last season.
A report in Foot Mercato now outlines that Pochettino is set to hold talks with struggling Nice, who are considering replacing under-fire boss Lucien Favre. Nice are currently languishing 13th in the standings and their slow start could see the Argentine brought in over the international break.
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Pochettino was appointed as PSG boss in January 2021, replacing the dismissed Tuchel, and within two weeks had won the first trophy of his coaching career – guiding his side to the Trophée des Champions by defeating Marseille. Despite defeating Monaco in the Coupe de France final, PSG were surprisingly beaten to the Ligue 1 title by huge outsiders Lille.
The Argentine coach had mixed fortunes in the Champions League – securing impressive aggregate victories over Barcelona and Bayern Munich before falling to Manchester City at the semi-final stage.
However, a summer which saw Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Achraf Hakimi, Nuno Mendes and Georginio Wijnaldum heading the arrivals at the club raised expectations – and the club's Champions League Round of 16 collapse against Madrid was definitive in how their 2021/22 campaign would be assessed.
Pochettino is now looking for a swift return to management and Nice while being a lower profile than his previous clubs, could be his next destination.
