Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino’s meeting with Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu ‘a chance encounter between old friends’, talkSPORT told

Guillem Balague has poured cold water on reports linking Mauricio Pochettino with the Barcelona job, telling talkSPORT the Tottenham manager’s meeting with president Josep Maria Bartomeu was merely a chance encounter between old friends.

Barca are on the hunt for their next permanent manager after current boss Luis Enrique confirmed he will vacate his post at the end of the season.

Pochettino has been one of the names heavily linked with the role, having apparently impressed the Catalan club’s hierarchy with his work since moving to White Hart Lane from Southampton in 2014.

The Argentine, who signed a new five-year contract with Spurs in May, has helped nurture the club’s top young talent and has transformed the north London club into genuine Premier League title challengers, with Tottenham currently second in the Premier League.

Reports linking him with the Nou Camp job intensified this week after he was pictured at a restaurant in Barcelona with president Bartomeu.

But Spanish football expert Balague insists the Spurs boss is going nowhere.

“It was just a chance meeting in a restaurant,” he told the Weekend Sports Breakfast.

“They’ve known each other for about 15 years, their kids have been in the same school.

“I can guarantee, 100 per cent, that Pochettino was with a bunch of friends having dinner. It was a chance meeting. They stood up, they greeted each other, hugged each other, and that was it!”

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