Pochettino's most anti-Barca phrases

As a former Espanyol coach, Mauricio Pochettino has always disassociated himself with anything to do with Barcelona. However, with Ernesto Valverde about to go, 'RAC1' have pointed to the Argentine as one of the main candidates to replace the coach.

After the news, many fans made viral one of his last speeches relating to Barca. When he was at Tottenham, he said that he would rather return to his farm that coach Barcelona.

"I am never going to be Barcelona, Arsenal or Rosario Central coach because I am very linked to Espanyol and Tottenham. I also grew up in Newell's and so I will never coach Rosario. I would prefer to work on my farm in Argentina than to coach at certain clubs," he stated.

However, this is not the only time he has spoken bad about Barca. For example, in 2018, in a press conference before a Champions League game against Valverde's team, he already ruled out this possibility, referring to some "emotional ties" that make it impossible to coach them.

"My emotional ties make it impossible to coach Barcelona. My ties are in Barcelona, but with Espanyol. There are some values in life that you cannot buy. I cannot change how I feel. Everything with Espanyol is so intense that when you feel identified with a club you cannot get past this. Moreover, I don't know if they would want me," he assured.

"You have values you were taught as a child and I have nothing to do with Barca. We were simply rivals and I don't think I could ever coach an enemy team because I would be betraying myself and the most important thing is respecting yourself," he added on another occasion.

He was always equally adamant, although on other occasions he tried to tone it down: "I have a lot of friends in Barcelona, who are from the Barcelona team and for whom I have enormous respect, but my path and that of Barcelona go in different directions and that would be impossible".

However, he did once have his quarrels. For example, when Xavi recommended that Guardiola signed Dele Ali for Manchester City. Then, the Argentine then lashed out at the former midfielder, one of his competitors for the job at the Camp Nou.

"Xavi is at a time when he loves to talk. Xavi is trying to break the team's concentration, he hates me. He's my enemy. I know him well, I've played against him many times," he said.