Krueger hopeful on Pochettino stay

Southampton chairman Ralph Krueger is hopeful that manager Mauricio Pochettino will still be at the club next season.

The Argentinian boss’ future has been the subject of much speculation of late amid rumours of a possible switch to Tottenham to replace under-pressure head coach Tim Sherwood at the end of the season.

However, Krueger, who joined the club in March, believes that Pochettino has taken a careful approach to his career so far, making it unlikely that he will move on after less than two years in charge at St Mary’s.

And he insisted that Southampton are doing all they can to retain their current group of players and management in order to build on their success, which sees them well set for a top-half finish in the Premier League this term.

“The first thing I’d say about Mauricio is that he took his time at Espanyol (where he managed for four years), which was really important,” Krueger told the Guardian.

“What really great managers do is stay in one spot until they cannot evolve there any more.

“If you see managers go one year, one year, one year and then, suddenly, they are in a top league, they don’t have the foundation, possibly, to do the job. Mauricio has very carefully planned his career.

“Right now, the only thing I can say, whether we speak about Mauricio or the players, is that what we have here is very good and we are doing everything in our power to keep this group together.

“We are going to create a culture that this is just an excellent organisation to be a part of at all levels.

“Whatever the dynamics of football or the situations that can evolve outside of Southampton do to us as we move forward, we will just keep moving forward. But there has been no talk of selling anything (key players).”