Report Says Pochettino Faces Drawn Out Exit From Spurs

Mauricio Pochettino could face a long, drawn-out divorce from Tottenham as the pressure to arrest his team’s dramatic decline intensifies.

Tottenham sit 14th in the Premier League and head for West Ham on Saturday without an away win since January.

If Pochettino’s days at Tottenham’s iconic new stadium are numbered, the stage is set for a Mexican stand-off, with chairman Daniel Levy and the manager waiting for the other to blink first.

Less than six months ago, Levy was fighting to keep his manager from the clutches of Manchester United and Real Madrid.

Now, with relations described by one club source as “strained”, Levy has to balance the need for change with the prospect of paying out a reported £12.5m in compensation to sack a manager who has more than three years left on his current deal.

Pochettino, meanwhile, looks unlikely to walk away from the money due – and so a stalemate remains in N17.