Bielsa lifted up my duvet while I slept and told my parents I’d be a footballer, reveals next Chelsea boss Pochettino
MAURICIO POCHETTINO had an awkward encounter with Marcelo Bielsa the first time he met the legendary manager.
He was just 15-years-old when the former Leeds and Argentina boss knocked on his parents’ door in 1987.
Bielsa was on a mission scouting young prospects around Argentina while in charge of Newell’s Old Boys.
He stopped to visit Pochettino and woke up the then-teenager at 2am.
Pochettino recalled the story, saying: “It’s an anecdote that comes from 1987 at a time when Marcelo was going about all of Argentina scouting for players.
“He knocked and my parents answered the door, of course they didn’t know who he was. He said he was from Newell’s Old Boys in Rosario and could he see the boy? ‘Of course’ said my parents, at one o’clock in the morning.
“They came up to my room, lifted up the duvet and Marcelo said ‘he has the makings of a footballer’.
“That’s how it stayed, then came my international debut in Holland [in 1999] where he’s the coach of the side.”
Pochettino signed for Bielsa and Newell’s and went on to make 153 appearances for the club.
Bielsa, 67, later gave Poch his first Argentina cap and the two duked it out on the touchline as managers years later while Pochettino was at Espanyol and Bielsa was in charge of Atletic Bilbao.
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Now Pochettino is set to join Chelsea after agreeing terms last week.
He is expected to be officially announced in the coming days and will be tasked with rebuilding a club that is set to finish in the bottom half of the Premier League for the first time since 1996.