Now that he's staying put with the U.S. men's national team, Mauricio Pochettino is open to moving.
Hired less than two years before this summer's World Cup, Pochettino kept his home base in Europe and traveled to the United States for training camps, games and scouting trips. Under contract for a full World Cup cycle, however, Pochettino said he and his staff would consider moving to the United States.
"Now that we have finished with the decision and the agreement, I will consider to move to the USA because that process is for four years," he told a small group of reporters before U.S. Soccer announced his new deal Monday, Aug. 3.
Pochettino was a longtime European club coach before taking over the USMNT in September 2024, and still has homes
in Barcelona and London. Unlike a club coach, who sees his players every day for the better part of the year, national team coaches are only with their players every six weeks or so and during tournaments. That means they don't have to be tied to a specific city or area.
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni, for example, lives in Mallorca, Spain, and travels back to Argentina as needed.
But with U.S. Soccer now having a national team training center outside Atlanta, there have been questions about whether Pochettino would move. While the USMNT is his primary focus, Pochettino also will have a hand in youth development and strengthening the pipeline of players, and being in or around Atlanta would make that easier.
"I don’t say Scaloni is the best way to work," Pochettino said. "I have no problem, and all the coaches, we don’t have any problem, to move to the USA."
Pochettino also addressed speculation that he might not be with the USMNT for the entirety of his four-year deal. Many had expected Pochettino to return to Europe after the World Cup, and he had talks in the spring with AC Milan.
But Pochettino said he's committed.
"Every time that we sign a contract, (the intention) is to go to the last day of the contract," Pochettino said. "If now we sign a four-year contract, we need to think and to arrive there. And we signed the contract because we really believe that we are going to be four years there.
"If we don't believe in that process, if we don't believe in that journey, why we sign four years? Only to be sure that we are going to receive a salary on the end of the month? That is not nice. It's not in the way that we think," Pochettino added. "We really signed that contract because we really believe that we can arrive on the end."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mauricio Pochettino open to moving to United States
