By George Overhill

10th Mar, 2023 | 12:10pm

Mauricio Pochettino right man to replace David Moyes at West Ham United, but Tottenham unfinished business - Sky Sports pundit

Mauricio Pochettino is the man West Ham should go for if they remove David Moyes as manager, according to former Hammer Anton Ferdinand.

However, he has admitted that the prospect of the French title-winner with PSG making a dramatic return to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium could be a “win-win”.

With the Hammers just a point outside the relegation zone Moyes is under pressure from the supporters and his own dressing room, but has so far been backed by the board, while Spurs’ abject exit from the Champions League appears to have confirmed Antonio Conte’s departure and sparked calls for the Argentinian to return there.

Speaking live on Sky Sports News on Thursday evening (9 March), in a clip shared by Football Daily on Twitter, Ferdinand said: “As a West Ham fan, if Moyes was to be relieved of his duties that’s someone I’d want West Ham to go for, is Pochettino.

“His football was fantastic at Tottenham, he got the best out of the players that he had there. The energy and the way he had the team playing was fantastic.

“But with Tottenham I think he’s got unfinished business, and going back into Tottenham, Daniel Levy will have to swallow his pride, but [Pochettino] having a point to prove I think it will be a win-win.”

Strike while the Irons’ hot

David Sullivan and the board are apparently content to stick with Moyes through thick and thin, which might be admirable if it was out of a sense of loyalty.

But with repeated suggestions that is as much down to an inability on their part to identify a suitable alternative [Guardian, 6 March] it instead seems careless, and if Pochettino is genuinely on the lookout for a return to London they should at least be getting into the conversation.

It could be tricky if the one-time Southampton boss has a particular loyalty to Spurs, but given the way he was sacked by Levy just six months after taking that team to the Champions League final with no financial backing, which has left them lurching from coach to coach ever since, that hardly seems insurmountable.

With money spent on signings at West Ham in a way that Pochettino never got at Tottenham, and back-to-back European qualifications, the Irons are surely an opportunity for someone of his calibre to turn things around.

But it may be too late already if the inevitable exit of Conte has led to a thaw between Levy and the man he fired three and a half years ago.

If he does end up back at Spurs it will look like a massive missed opportunity given he has been available all year throughout Moyes’ struggles, so unless he has already been sounded out and flatly refused to entertain taking over Sullivan and company should be getting in touch.