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Should Mauricio Pochettino go to Manchester United? The Sunday Supplement panel discuss

Mauricio Pochettino is believed to be the front-runner for the permanent Man Utd position

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Image: Should Mauricio Pochettino go to Man Utd or stay with Tottenham?

Should Mauricio Pochettino go to Manchester United? The Sunday Supplement had differing views as they discussed the Tottenham manager's next move.

Pochettino is believed to be the front-runner for the permanent role as Man Utd manager, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer currently in interim charge.

But should he leave Tottenham to make the move to Old Trafford? Sunday Supplement panelists Patrick Barclay, Paul McCarthy and Ian McGarry gave their views...

Ian McGarry

From everyone I have spoken to who knows him well, and I don't claim to know Pochettino well personally, they say he is a very considered man about his career. He could have rushed into other jobs already, he could have taken a job before he left Southampton to go to Tottenham so he has got two other choices outside of his own job - Manchester United or Real Madrid.

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Sky Sports News reporter Dharmesh Sheth did his best to ask Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino about speculation linking him with the Manchester United manager's job

If you look at those two clubs right now, Real Madrid are fourth in the league, Man Utd are in sixth in the Premier League and they might not make Champions League football. Neither club has any stability and Pochettino is only 46 so he has a long time left in his career. He can go to those clubs at a different point, he doesn't have to rush into it now. I wonder if he's thinking 'why should I leave Spurs?' The new stadium will be built soon etcetera and he has got a team there that he has effectively built himself.

Paul McCarthy

Levy, Pochettino and Joe Lewis [Tottenham owner] have helped build Spurs a fantastic new stadium and bring through young players - Pochettino has crafted the careers of players like Harry Kane and Dele Alli. He is smart, shrewd and tactically astute but he is still manager of Tottenham.

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It's exactly the same as when any manager is linked with the England job. People say 'it's a really difficult job, why would you want to do that?' and then someone actually offers you the job and I can't remember too many people, especially Englishmen, who have turned the job down.

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I think if Pochettino is offered the Man Utd job, he won't be able to turn it down.

Patrick Barclay

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If you try and put yourself in Pochettino's position, bearing in mind his history - which is of building - and he only has two places that would be an obvious improvement on Tottenham on the face of it, but I'm not sure.

Who has got a better first team - Man Utd or Tottenham? What would Man Utd have to pay to sign Tottenham's first team? £1.5bn? Have they got that? No, the club is only worth twice that. The point I'm trying to make is Tottenham under Pochettino are a long way down the line towards winning big trophies.

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Manchester United is a huge name, but it is not the biggest football team in Manchester. They may have a bigger GDP but in terms of actual potential to win a trophy this season, they are not even the biggest football team in Manchester.

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Of course it is a great honour to manage United, but he has to think about what is right for him. He has also just signed a new long-term contract with Tottenham - that should mean something. We're not talking about a little club, we're talking about a club that is not that far away from being a big club.

There's no law that says Tottenham must be the second biggest club in north London or the eighth biggest club in England - Tottenham can be a top club and results-wise, they are already there.

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