Man Utd manager: Dating Mauricio Pochettino for a decade – but Michael Carrick deserves better

Pochettino’s driven and competitive nature means it’s an itch he will want to scratch when his United appointment is confirmed.

Although Spurs always seemed to be his first love, there is no doubt that United hold a special place in his thoughts.

Spanish football expert Guillem Balague, who worked with Pochettino on his book Brave New World, says: “There is also tension with the people at the club.

“Omar Berrada is a fan. When Manchester City drew up a shortlist to replace Pep Guardiola, some City fans, including Omar, argued for Pochettino to be included.

“There are lots of clues about his feelings for United in the book. He was at the stadium in 1999 when United won the Champions League.

“Sir Alex Ferguson is mentioned 28 times, more than any other name in the biography.

“Spurs tried to push back and remove these references. Pochettino and I discussed it and decided that none of this would be touched. It shows how much it meant to him.”

Pochettino is a renowned builder, as he proved at Spurs after taking over from the sacked Tim Sherwood, working with Harry Kane to develop the recently crowned Ballon d’Or winner, as well as bringing Son Heung-Min to the club for a bargain £22 million from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015.

If Pochettino can repeat that – a tough job in United’s circumstances – and replicate the enjoyable, attacking football played with relentless energy, then he could finally be the ideal fit that Ratcliffe has so far sought in vain to discover.

Pochettino is also his own man, so it will be intriguing to see how he works with Ratcliffe, Berrada and Wilcox.

The road to Pochettino’s dismissal at Spurs effectively began after a friendly win over Real Madrid just weeks after their Champions League final defeat, when he made it clear he did not have enough influence within the club.

He maintains warm relationships with his players, with a history of improvement. It’s no coincidence that Cole Palmer enjoyed his best season under Pochettino at Chelsea, scoring 25 goals in 45 appearances.

Pochettino, however, is also determined and ruthless, as he proved by emphatically responding to criticism for not phoning the players he left out of the US squad for the World Cup.

He said: “When I was a player, when I wasn’t capped, I didn’t want my coach to call me. Players who weren’t capped don’t want to hear me say ‘I’m sorry’. What are you going to say? Am I going to lie?”

He will need to call on each of these qualities if he takes charge of United.

Back to that lunch with Ferguson.

The last word that day went to Pochettino as the two men argued over who footed the bill.

Ferguson said Pochettino could pay if he named an Argentina player who scored in the 1930 World Cup final.

Pochettino, in what he claims was a moment of inspiration, named Guillermo Stabile.

He won that argument. Now he and Ferguson will hope Pochettino can produce more moments of inspiration to win something more substantial at United.