Monday 17 April 2017 07:11, UK
Would Mauricio Pochettino turn down interest from Barcelona to stay at Tottenham? The Sunday Supplement panel weigh up his options...
The former Espanyol boss guided Spurs to their seventh straight win on Saturday, beating Bournemouth 4-0 at White Hart Lane.
The victory closed the gap on Premier League leaders Chelsea to four points ahead of their Super Sunday clash at Old Trafford.
Luis Enrique will leave Barcelona at the end of the season and the Spanish giants have been reportedly linked with Pochettino, who signed a new five-and-a-half-year Tottenham deal last May.
On the Sunday Supplement, panellists Shaun Custis, Miguel Delaney and Simon Mullock discussed his future at the club...
The Sun's Head of Sport, Shaun Custis, said: "There's a real feeling among the players that they don't want to let him down and I think they felt they did let him down at the end of last season.
"Losing to Newcastle the way they did [on the final day of last season] was dreadful. That took him into the summer really angry and it was almost like, 'That must not happen again'. The players realised that.
"The whole group is rallying around the manager now and the manager clearly has got them completely believing in him. You just wonder whether he will stay.
"He has been for dinner publicly with Sir Alex Ferguson, then with Barcelona, and you might say it's nothing. But he is talking to people at influential clubs around Europe. Why does he do that? Just for fun?"
The Independent's Chief Football Writer, Miguel Delaney, responded: "It's a very intelligent strategy. The big issue for Spurs over the last 20 years, and particularly the last decade, has been keeping their best players.
"You look at [Luka] Modric, [Gareth] Bale and going back to [Dimitar] Berbatov. Now it's the opposite. It's almost like the players want to stay and they are worried about the manager going.
"You can see that because they've all signed new contracts. As warm as Pochettino can be with the players, he can be quite a hard figure when it comes down to business.
"It's always good for him to have options in the background. He has earned the admiration of so many huge figures in the game, including Ferguson.
"But he is building one of the most exciting teams in Europe at the moment. They look so mature, especially after last season, given how young the squad is."
The Sunday Mirror's Chief Football Writer, Simon Mullock, said: "Spurs, whether they like it or not, do have a bit of a reputation as a selling club if the price is right.
"They have to keep that team together and that's probably the key to making sure the manager remains happy."
Custis: "But if Barcelona came and said, 'Pochettino, we want you', is he really going to say, 'No thanks, I'm building something special at Spurs?'
"I can't see that happening."
Delaney: "He has got this connection with Espanyol."
Custis: "I've never bought that and the fact he went out for dinner [with Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu] proved that to me.
"I don't think that's as a strong as people are making out. If Barcelona come calling it's a very difficult thing to say no.
Delaney: "The one thing I would say to that, just before the game against Man City in October we were talking about the history of Pep Guardiola at Barcelona and an unprompted Pochettino went on a five-minute monologue about how Espanyol are the real workers' team.
"It was someone who seemed very involved and very invested in the identity of Espanyol. So I think it's a bit deeper than what you say.
"If he or one of their big players went just as they moved into the new stadium, it would just take away from the excitement a little bit. If they're all there walking in for that first game, it fosters a sense of something new."
