Mauricio Pochettino has revealed he is good friends with the family of Tottenham goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga.
The Spurs manager has mentioned in the past that he is from the same Argentinian village, Murphy, as Gazzaniga, who joined Pochettino at Tottenham in the summer of 2017.
But Pochettino has now spoken of his ties with Gazzaniga’s family following the former Southampton stopper’s call-up to the Argentinian national team.
“I’m so happy for Paulo. He’s a fantastic goalkeeper and he’s showing his quality and why we signed him,” Pochettino told the club’s official website.
“And then he’s from my town, Murphy, I know him as a kid, his dad, his uncle, his grandfather and he’s a very good family friend. He’s an excellent goalkeeper.”
Gazzaniga appears to have overtaken Michel Vorm as Spurs’ second choice goalkeeper this season, putting in a string of impressive performances when standing in for captain Hugo Lloris.
The 26-year-old has admitted he thought Pochettino was joking when he was told he had received an Argentina call-up.
Erik Lamela and Juan Foyth are also in the Argentina squad to face Mexico this weekend.
It will be interesting to see whether Tottenham move for another goalkeeper next summer.
Vorm is out of contract at the end of the current season, and Pochettino is likely to pursue another goalkeeper to compete with Lloris and Gazzaniga.
