Harry Redknapp insists there is no reason why Mauricio Pochettino couldn’t take over at Arsenal after his departure as Tottenham manager.
Spurs fans have been left stunned after a whirlwind 24 hours in north London, with the club sacking Pochettino on Tuesday night and swiftly announcing Jose Mourinho as his replacement early on Wednesday morning.
The Argentine’s sudden availability will surely have plenty of managers now fearing for their jobs and club chiefs reaching for the chequebook.
Pochettino has been linked with plenty of clubs, with Manchester United, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain all reportedly having a long-term interest in the coach, while Bayern Munich are searching for a new permanent boss.
But Redknapp has amazingly claimed he would be a great fit to replace under-fire Unai Emery at Spurs’ arch rivals, saying it wouldn’t take Arsenal fans long to love him.
Speaking on Wendesday’s Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast, he said: “With Pochettino going from Tottenham, there will be one or two Premier League managers waking up this morning thinking, ‘oh my god, this ain’t too clever’.
“And there will be one or two chairmen very excited this morning thinking if there’s any way they could get him in. What a signing he’d be.
“There are clubs in London who are having a terrible time. Why shouldn’t he go to Arsenal if he wants to? You think the Arsenal fans wouldn’t love him there?
“If you go in there and start winning football matches, they would have taken Saddam Hussein in there when he was about, the fans don’t give a monkeys! If you start winning every week, they’re singing ‘there’s only one Saddam’.
“It happens in football – Sol Campbell went from Tottenham to Arsenal, George Graham did it, Terry Neill did it, Pat Jennings, one of our greatest goalkeepers in history, even he made the change.
“It can happen, as long as you can do the job. I would have thought Arsenal will be looking at Pochettino now thinking, ‘could we? Can we?’”
