Real Madrid tried once more to poach Pochettino before hiring Lopetegui

Wanna feel good about something today? Mauricio Pochettino is still not Real Madrid’s manager. According to a report in Spanish paper El Pais, after being rejected by Tottenham Hotspur’s gaffer at the beginning of their search, the La Liga club tried to go back in for him a second time before agreeing to hire Spain manager Julen Lopetegui. And Tottenham said no again.

Sources from Madrid and the federation say that the Chamartin club had been dragging a list of coaches for months to replace Zidane, whose priorities were set in the following order: Löw, Pochettino, Klopp, Allegri, Conte, Lopetegui and Villas-Boas...

But before closing anything, Sanchez contacted Daniel Levy, Tottenham’s chairman, to make a last attempt to sign Pochettino. Until Monday afternoon, Madrid did not completely discard the Argentine. Only then did they contact Lopetegui to announce that they would sign.

— El Pais

I don’t know why this makes me so happy but it does. Maybe it’s the idea that Tottenham finally have a manager who is both desirable to the best clubs in the world and also wants to stay and do great things in north London. But also there’s a fair bit of schadenfreude about that prioritized list of managers that Madrid wanted to hire. Jogi Low, Poch, Jurgen Klopp, Max Allegri, Antonio Conte. And if you believe this report, Madrid were one more rejection away from hiring Andre Villas-Boas. How amazing is that?