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Kyle Walker: "Thank God" Mauricio Pochettino's staying at Spurs

Somebody's happy their gaffer is sticking around!

Tottenham Hotspur v West Bromwich Albion - Premier League Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

There's one current player at Tottenham Hotspur who's particularly excited about Mauricio Pochettino extending his contract with Spurs. And this time, it isn't Christian Eriksen.

Kyle Walker was giving a separate interview when Pochettino announced that he had verbally agreed to extend his existing contract with Tottenham another two years, keeping him at the club until 2021. His reaction was, well, priceless.

"I've been waiting for someone to say that for ages now! He's said it? Thank god for that. I'm over the moon!

"It is a relief. There is always going to be speculation. It happens all the time. This player is going here, this manager is going there but I think that's not for me to talk about or for any other player to talk about. We just need to conduct ourselves professionally."

We've already seen a number of reports about existing Spurs players willing to sign new deals to keep them at White Hart Lane... so long as Pochettino himself stays around. Eriksen reportedly agreed to a new contract, contingent on the Argentine committing to stay. There are also fresh rumors that France keeper Hugo Lloris will also sign a new five year contract with the club, squashing rumors that he was angling for a move.

Spurs' near-certainty of playing in the Champions League next year helps, of course, but it's also additional evidence that the cult of personality Poche has cultivated at Spurs is working: players love him and love playing for him.

For Walker, it's not just the on the field success that makes him want to play for his manager: Pochettino's relatability and nurturing of the young players on the team, makes him an easy manager to play for.

"For me, he's not just the manager on the pitch but it's how he is off the pitch. That says everything for me.

"Some of the managers that have come in, you know...there's young players here now and sometimes they do need an arm around them and to say, 'you can do this,' sit them down, 'look at the TV screen, you can do this better,' because we are still learning.

"We are probably not in our prime yet, most of us, so we are still learning and he is the man to take this club forward and onto new levels.

"It's just everything about him, his aura as well. It's just fantastic."

It's almost as if these players... golly!... really like him or something!