Pochettino will 'for sure' return to Tottenham, former club assistant Perez says

Former Tottenham assistant manager Jesus Perez has insisted he will return to the club with ex-boss Mauricio Pochettino 'for sure'.

Perez joined the north London outfit in 2014 and was Pochettino's assistant until his sacking in November 2019 after five years at the club.

He has now followed the former Southampton and Spurs boss to Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain after being appointed the Argentine's No 2 at the beginning of the year.

Daniel Levy - who called time on Pochettino's reign and replaced him with current boss Jose Mourinho - is celebrating 20 years at Tottenham today, but Perez insists there is no ill-feeling between the duo and revealed the PSG boss still remains in contact with the Spurs chairman.

'Every day Daniel crossed to Mauricio's office and he joined us on the topic we were discussing,' Perez told The Evening Standard.

'Then most of the time we had breakfast with him and lunch at the training ground. We, as a staff, never started lunch until Mauricio or Daniel was at the table. That's something we always respected.

'Mauricio and Daniel still text each other and they have a very good relationship. We don't have any bad feelings with Daniel. The other way around. It was a professional decision.

'At some point, we had to split but we will be back at Spurs for sure.'

Pochettino was sacked with Tottenham sat 14th in the Premier League table and struggling for form.

Their rut had arrived less than six months after losing the 2019 Champions League final to Liverpool in Madrid, which occurred just more than 12 months after Pochettino had signed a new five-year deal.

And Perez revealed that the two parties' visions began to differ and the financial restraints on the club led to Pochettino's departure.

'It was not because he didn't want to sign,' Perez added. 'It's because the level that the team needed and the big decisions to allow players to go was really difficult.

'At some point, as everyone knows, visions were different.

'The circumstances of the club, they couldn't please what the team needed or the manager needed to keep progressing. Because of the training centre and then the stadium.

'To keep that level and keep progressing and build a stadium, probably it was impossible.'