Pochettino hints that he once had an exit clause in his Tottenham contract

The start of the World Cup means that there aren’t very many examples of quality Tottenham news or rumors right now as all of the world’s football journalists are writing about what’s going on in Russia. But a bit of interesting Spurs gossip did emerge out of Spain this morning.

Mauricio Pochettino apparently gave an an interview on a Spanish television show yesterday (as reported by Mundo Deportivo) in which he suggested that he had an exit clause in his Tottenham Hotspur contract when he first signed on as manager from Southampton back in 2014.

The comments, which he made on TV3’s El Club de la Mitjanit, came (naturally) in the context of asking Pochettino about turning down the approach from Real Madrid to be their new manager just days after signing a new deal at Spurs.

“I am very happy atTottenham. When I made the decision to renew, I did it knowing all the consequences. We are going to have the best stadium in Europe and a very nice project that I want to be part of. You can not leave if you have just given your commitment to a club like Tottenham, which in its day signed me from Southampton and that has given me the opportunity to be in the Champions League.

“A year and a half after my contract my exit clause disappeared and the club rewarded me for the work done. Now the commitment is different. If any club wants to sign me, they have to ask permission from Daniel Levy. I do not know if Real Madrid called Tottenham to sign me.”

So that’s interesting. One of the rumors floating around when Madrid’s interest emerged was that Poch had an exit clause in his new deal that would allow him to leave for either Madrid or PSG. Poch’s comments say that there was an exit clause, but in his ORIGINAL deal and not the one he just signed. It’s also worth noting that this is the third contract that Pochettino has signed with Spurs, and he specifically refers to his original contract that he signed after leaving Southampton.

Ultimately, this isn’t really relevant anymore. Pochettino rebuffed Real Madrid and is fully committed to “the Tottenham project.” But it is interesting. Thankfully, it now appears that any club that wants to try and poach Poch will have to first get through Daniel Levy, and we know how difficult — and expensive — THAT will be.