Mauricio Pochettino remains open to returning to Tottenham after the World Cup even if Spurs are relegated to the Championship, according to new reports. The Premier League big six club are on the lookout for a new permanent manager in the summer. Thomas Frank was sacked last month after eight months in charge, paying the price for a run of two wins in 17 Premier League matches. Igor Tudor has since been installed as the club’s interim manager until the end of the season.

The Italian’s two matches so far have both ended in defeat, a 4-1 loss to Arsenal followed by a 2-1 reverse at Fulham. Tudor said afterwards: “I want to see everything more, everything more. We are lack when we attack, we are lacking of the quality to score the goal, we are lacking in the middle to run and we are lacking behind to stay there to suffer and not concede the goal. Of course it’s a confidence problem.”

Back-to-back defeats under Tudor leaves Tottenham 16th and four points above the relegation zone going into Thursday’s game at home to Crystal Palace. West Ham and Nottingham Forest both play before then and can narrow the gap.

But the north Londoners have received some positive news, according to reports. That’s because the much-loved Pochettino is open to heading back to Tottenham even if they drop down to the second tier, per GiveMeSport’s Ben Jacobs.

The issue is that Spurs would still need to find a way to adequately pay the Argentine, who earns around £4.6million a year as the head coach of the United States national team. That equates to around £90,000 a week.

He was on £8.5m per year – roughly £160,000 a week – in his previous stint at Spurs. The 54-year-old built a title-challenging team in his spell between 2014 and 2019, although he did not deliver silverware.

Despite that, Pochettino’s youthful attacking team was one of the best Spurs sides ever and he won 160 of his 293 games in charge for a win ratio of 54 per cent. Of the five permanent managers since Pochettino was sacked seven years ago, none have bettered that.

Other candidates for Spurs are free agent Roberto De Zerbi and Ferencvaros head coach, and former Tottenham goalscoring hero, Robbie Keane. But Pochettino would be a popular appointment with the fans, regardless of his 51-game spell at Chelsea. That’s because the joy he gave Spurs supporters in his last stint at the club.

The South American is currently focused on the upcoming World Cup. Hosts USA will face Paraguay, Australia and one of Slovakia, Kosovo, Turkey and Romania – to be decided later this month in the qualifying play-offs – in Group D.

Told that the USA making the quarter-finals would represent a successful World Cup, Pochettino replied to Radiogaceta de los Deportes: “To me it wouldn’t … because we want to win [the World Cup], we are winners.

“It’s complicated for every team to win the World Cup, it won’t be easy. It’s also a different experience with different circumstances, we’ll see, surprises can always happen. It’s true that nobody in the world puts the USMNT among the favorites to win the World Cup.

“I’m conscious of that. But internally, when we took on the challenge of going to the World Cup, we considered: ‘Why not? Why not win it? Why not make it to the final stages of the World Cup?’ We know we have a lot of work to do and that we’ve been working now for a year and a half to achieve being at the level that a World Cup – the most important event – will demand.”