Manchester United appears close to appointing Mauricio Pochettino as its manager, according to two British outlets. BBC News reported that Pochettino looks set to turn a "decade-long courtship" with the club into a full-blown relationship, according to its chief football writer, Phil McNulty. The BBC headline described the two sides as a decade in the making.
The Guardian published a column by Barney Ronay on the same subject. Ronay wrote that there was "nothing surprising" in the news that Manchester United may be on the verge of appointing Pochettino, and he said the club is always on the verge of appointing him. He wrote that Pochettino has been hurt by experiences at elite clubs and that several players at Old Trafford could fit his playing style.
The two pieces differ in form. The BBC item is a news report by its chief football writer, while the Guardian item is a column, and the views in it are Ronay's own. Ronay's column asks, in its headline, whether Pochettino can make it work at Manchester United.
Neither summary says whether Manchester United has confirmed an appointment or whether any agreement has been signed. Both outlets describe the move as near rather than complete. This report draws on the published summaries of both pieces, and the full texts may contain further detail.
The sources do not give details of Pochettino's experiences at elite clubs beyond the Guardian's statement that those experiences hurt him.
Sources: BBC News: Mauricio Pochettino and Manchester United are a decade in the making; The Guardian: Meeting of two lost souls: can Pochettino make it work at Manchester United? | Barney Ronay.