There has long been a view that Manchester United need not just a new manager but a total "cultural reset" to address the drift which currently characterises the club, making the appointment of a permanent successor to interim head coach Ralf Rangnick so significant.
If there is one (soon to be available) elite coach with a history of transforming the culture at a leading Premier League club, it is Mauricio Pochettino, which is why it feels like such a mistake that United are overlooking the former Tottenham boss for Ajax's Erik ten Hag.
Pochettino's work at Spurs is widely celebrated (even if his lack of silverware is always a caveat) but a still underrated aspect of it is the way he transformed the culture of the club while building a great team.
When the Argentine and his assistants arrived in north London in the summer of 2014, the club was a mess, still reeling from Tim Sherwood's scorched-earth policy.
Pochettino found a magnificent training ground but a cold and fearful environment, with some players already pessimistic about the opening day visit to rivals West Ham.
He set about completely changing the mentality of both the squad and the entire club, and soon there was no one at Spurs, from chairman Daniel Levy to the ground staff, who had not directly felt his influence.
United appear in desperate need of the same kind of deep shake-up, which Ten Hag, who is first and foremost a training-ground coach, is unlikely to deliver.
Pochettino, though, has the charisma, ego and, crucially, the experience to do the job, while he is also the perfect profile as a coach.
Like Spurs, United want a manager who will promote young players, play progressive attacking football and, importantly, has the personality to get an unsettled squad to buy into his methods. Pochettino ticks these boxes, and more.
There are far more question marks over Ten Hag, not least whether he is the right character for one of the biggest jobs in football. Spurs found him short of charisma when they interviewed him last summer (a factor, admittedly, somewhat undermined by their eventual appointment of Nuno Espirito Santo).
In choosing Ten Hag, you cannot help but wonder if United are going for a safe option again, having previously shied away from approaching Antonio Conte. This concern would be to overlook Pochettino's diplomacy, however.
True, he is moody, loves flirting with other clubs and is not averse to a public power-play, but Pochettino still spent five-and-a-half largely harmonious years working under Levy, and remains the only Spurs manager ever to be handed a contract extension by the chairman.
He can only be gaining further experience in diplomacy at the circus that is Paris Saint-Germain, so there is no reason to think he is an especially risky choice politically, liable to rock the boat.
And in many ways, Pochettino would actually be lower maintenance than Ten Hag. He comes with an established five-man coaching team and would have a clear idea about potential signings, so United would have been largely able to leave him to get on with the job.
By contrast, the club will have to build a structure around Ten Hag (there is already talk of Steve McClaren or Robin van Persie returning as his assistant) and it is doubtful they have the expertise to replicate the building blocks in place at Ajax, which is one of the reasons why so many coaches are successful in Amsterdam but not elsewhere.
There are other concerns about Ten Hag, including his lack of experience in a major league, but this decision should not be about the Dutchman's shortcomings, but rather Pochettino's strengths.
Tottenham found Ten Hag short of charisma when they interviewed him... he lacks experience in a major league
The suggestion that Pochettino has somehow damaged his reputation at PSG should be dismissed. The French side are as dysfunctional as any club in Europe and the success of Unai Emery, Thomas Tuchel and Carlo Ancelotti since leaving the Parc des Princes proves that no manager should be judged on PSG's repeated Champions League humiliations. And his lack of silverware, while a lingering concern, really distracts from the remarkable work he did at Spurs.
If anything, Pochettino's stock should have risen since he left Spurs given their sharp decline since, which he long forecast in repeated pleas to the club to refresh his squad.
Looking back, it is clearer than ever that Pochettino was the most important person in Spurs' rise from 2014 to 2019, and United may come to regret passing up yet another chance to pursue him.
