Arsenal: Julian Nagelsmann is what you really meant by Pochettino

Arsenal fans want Mauricio Pochettino because… (I’m not sure why?) but what they actually want is Julian Nagelsmann. And here’s why.

So you think you want Mauricio Pochettino to manage Arsenal? Well, let’s start with a simple truth—you’re wrong. You don’t actually want that. You want a young manager who has built a clear style and can help get the club over this hump. That’s Julian Nagelsmann, not Mauricio Pochettino.

Pochettino is a half-decade trophy-less wannabe who isn’t the level of manager that the Gunners need to up their ante, because Pochettino couldn’t up his own ante when he was at Tottenham.

Nagelsmann is a young, energetic, creative manager with a footballing mind trained by years in the sport and studying the science of the sport, who is going up and up while Pochettino went up and hit his head one the ceiling and went right back down.

Neither has won anything, but what makes Nagelsmann different is that he really hasn’t had the opportunity to win anything. Pochettino has. Plenty. And he hasn’t. Plain and simple.

Meanwhile, Nagelsmann is mixing the perfect blend of youth talent and a few key stars to orchestrate one of the most sneakily exciting attacks in all of Europe over at RB Leipzig, where he boasts the best goal differential in a league full of exciting talent.

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Better than Bayern Munich even. It must be said.

Nagelsmann has a track record of being a man manager, as well as matching one of Unai Emery’s main strengths—giving youth a chance. Nagelsmann has nailed that part of managing.

And remember when Spurs wanted Nagelsmann too? Yeah, not saying they saw him as an upgrade, but that’s kind of the idea with replacements, isn’t it? So if you wanted Pochettino, know that Spurs wanted Nagelsmann more than Pochettino. No biggie.

I can hear the naysayer already—”I want someone with Premier League experience!”—yeah, forget that. Get lost. Football is football, and the brand of football that Nagelsmann is proving to play is sexy. The kind we want to play. If you think that he’s lesser because he’s managing in Germany, you need to reevaluate a lot of things.

If you think you want Poch, you don’t. You actually want Nagelsmann. That’s what’s going on here. So to make this easier on everyone, I’m just going to hear “Nagelsmann” any time someone speaks highly of that other guy.