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Ernesto Valverde makes stunning Barcelona revelation that could rock Man Utd plans
ERNESTO VALVERDE has admitted for the first time that he may NOT be Barcelona manager past the end of this season.
And that is bad news for Manchester United and their pursuit of Mauricio Pochettino.
Valverde has been in charge of Barcelona since the summer of 2017 and is contracted to the club until the end of this term.
There is an option to trigger a one-year extension to his contract and see it run until 2020.
But as Express Sport reported last month, Barcelona want Valverde to pledge his future to the project by February.
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I do not know my future or what I will be doing
Otherwise club officials will begin the search for a new long-term manager, with Tottenham boss and Manchester United target Pochettino high on their list.
Valverde spoke to Barcelona’s in-house TV channel and admitted he is not sure what his future holds.
“Next season? I do not know my future or what I will be doing at that stage,” Valverde told Barcelona TV.
“In football you never know what will happen, things are fluid and you can never allow yourself to think in the long term.
“When you are in this business, two months is a very long time, thoughts and feelings change on individual results – if you win things are great, if you lose everyone is sad and talking about you.
“I want everyone to be happy with my work and the work of my staff and my players, but in football there are no guarantees.
“If we do not meet our objectives – domestically and in Europe – people will look at the coach, it is the way things are.”
Were Valverde to leave the Nou Camp in June, Pochettino and a number of other managers could be contacted over the role.
Antonio Conte is out of work and it seems he won’t be getting the Real Madrid job.
Jose Mourinho and Laurent Blanc are also looking for new posts - but neither seem particularly suitable for Barca.
Max Allegri is currently the favourite with bookmakers to snap up the position, with the Italian tipped to leave Juventus at the end of the season.
But Barca could also appoint from within and promote assistant Jon Aspiazu to the manager role.
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As for United, Pochettino is their top choice to succeed interim boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Old Trafford.
However, Tottenham are set to play hardball over the release of their manager.
Spurs are yet to move into their new stadium and are desperate for the Argentine to stay and help smooth the transition back to north London from Wembley.
Spurs are in a battle for a top-four spot in the Premier League and are six points off table-toppers Liverpool in second place.
United, meanwhile, sit sixth in the table and eight points behind fourth-place Chelsea.