MAURICIO POCHETTINO reckons Tottenham were saved by the universe after missing out on Danny Welbeck – paving the way for Harry Kane’s record-breaking career.
The former Spurs boss revealed the club tried to sign Welbeck from Manchester United in the summer of 2014.
But when Olivier Giroud was injured, Arsenal swooped in with a bigger offer and whisked Welbeck across North London instead.
And Poch said that twist of fate changed everything.
Speaking on the High Performance podcast, the 53-year-old USA boss said: “We were so lucky.
“The club made an offer for Welbeck at Manchester United but Giroud got injured and Arsenal made another offer, a bigger offer, and Welbeck signed for Arsenal.
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“Because we didn’t bring Welbeck, it meant there was space for Harry Kane.
“It was a confirmation from the universe.”
At the time, Spurs already had Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado on the books and were considering adding a third striker.
Kane, then a 21-year-old academy product, was far from the finished article.
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But Pochettino insists he saw something straight away.
He said: “When we saw Harry Kane, we said, ‘No, it’s a player that we need. He’s young. He needs to stay with us.’”
The decision proved inspired.
Kane went on to score 213 Premier League goals in 320 appearances for Tottenham before joining Bayern Munich in 2023.
Pochettino arrived at White Hart Lane in July 2014 and spent five years in charge, guiding Spurs to a Champions League final before being sacked after a poor start to the 2019/20 campaign with the club 14th in the table.
Not too dissimilar to their current plight following the dismissal of Thomas Frank.
Frank’s sacking comes as:
Reflecting on Kane’s rise, Poch added: “The most difficult thing in football is to anticipate everything.
“It’s easy to see now that Harry Kane is one of the best strikers in the world.
“But to anticipate that in one year he would be one of the best strikers in England, you’d say that you were guessing.
“But we have that complicity with the universe.”
And with Spurs once again searching for direction, Poch is the bookies favourite to return once he has finished his duties with US men’s national team at the World Cup this summer.
And fans will be wondering whether the man who “anticipated” Kane’s rise could be called upon to do it all over again.