'Why shouldn’t he go to Arsenal?' - Redknapp backs Pochettino to replace Emery

Former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino could take over at their north London rivals Arsenal, according to ex-Spurs manager Harry Redknapp.

Pochettino’s five-and-a-half year spell as Tottenham boss came to an end on Tuesday evening, with former Chelsea and Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho confirmed as his successor early on Wednesday.

The Argentine’s status as a free agent is likely to make a few incumbent managers nervous given he was one of the game’s most in-demand coaches earlier this year when he led Tottenham to the Champions League final.

Arsenal boss Unai Emery is one of a number of under pressure managers after a run of inconsistent results at Emirates Stadium in recent weeks.

If Emery is dismissed then Pochettino would certainly be a controversial replacement given his Tottenham connections, with George Graham the last boss to manage both clubs when he took over as Spurs manager in 1998.

Redknapp, however, believes the Argentine would be embraced by the Gunners fans, provided he picks up positive results.

“With Pochettino going from Tottenham, there will be one or two Premier League managers waking up this morning thinking, ‘oh my God, this ain’t too clever’,” Redknapp told  TalkSPORT.

“And there will be one or two chairmen very excited this morning thinking if there’s any way they could get him in. What a signing he’d be.

“There are clubs in London who are having a terrible time. Why shouldn’t he go to Arsenal if he wants to? You think the Arsenal fans wouldn’t love him there?

“If you go in there and start winning football matches, they would have taken Saddam Hussein in there when he was about, the fans don’t give a monkey's! If you start winning every week, they’re singing ‘there’s only one Saddam’.

“It happens in football – Sol Campbell went from Tottenham to Arsenal, George Graham did it, Terry Neill did it, Pat Jennings, one of our greatest goalkeepers in history, even he made the change.

“It can happen, as long as you can do the job. I would have thought Arsenal will be looking at Pochettino now thinking, ‘could we? Can we?’”