Mauricio Pochettino names the Tottenham star that saved his career back in 2014

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Former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has revealed the Spurs star that ‘saved his career’ at the Premier League club back in 2014.

Pochettino took charge of Spurs back in May 2014 and stayed with the London outfit until 2019, becoming a fan favourite along the way due to his style of play and results.

That love was not always there though as the Argentine coach had a mixed start to his time in the White Hart Lane dugout, winning just three of his first nine games and instantly coming under pressure as a result.

Off the back of that, Tottenham travelled to Aston Villa and a goal from a certain star in that match helped save Pochettino’s career at Spurs – so the 50-year-old believes.

Pochettino as Tottenham manager

Pochettino names the star that saved his Tottenham career

During that match, Tottenham fell behind after an Andreas Weimann strike and with Spurs struggling to find a way back into the game, Pochettino brought on a relatively unknown Harry Kane just before the hour mark.

Nacer Chadli fired in an equaliser with six minutes to go in the game, before Kane scored from a free-kick at the death to steal a winner. Now, Pochettino has admitted that goal all but saved his job at Tottenham.

“It was a really, really tough moment for the club. But from that goal on, it started to get easier. People started to understand what we were trying to do, where we wanted to take Tottenham,” Pochettino told The Athletic.

“For me, that was a massive, key moment. And when I see Harry now, I still tell him he saved my career, because that goal allowed us to calm down, and got people to believe in our project.”

Kane went on to become a superstar under Pochettino and it culminated in the pair reaching the Champions League final back in 2019.

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