Tottenham's four failed homecomings under Daniel Levy pose Mauricio Pochettino problem

It seems like ever since his departure in November 2019 that Mauricio Pochettino has been linked with a return to Tottenham.

Those links have stepped back up with reports that the Argentine is set to be sacked by Paris Saint-Germain, with current Spurs boss Antonio Conte offering his services to the French giants. Pochettino would likely be met with a positive reception by Tottenham fans, given how successful his first spell in charge of the Premier League side was.

But Tottenham would do well to consider how badly previous homecomings have tended to do since Daniel Levy took day-to-day charge of the club. Here, Mirror Football looks at four of those unsuccessful returning stars which pose a problem over a second Pochettino spell.

After a successful two-year spell at Tottenham from 2006 to 2008, Pascal Chimbonda opted to move to Sunderland. But just six months later he was back at White Hart Lane, with Spurs paying the same £3million fee that had received for him the previous summer.

His return to White Hart Lane was little short of a disaster though, with the Frenchman making only three appearances in the second-half of the 2008/2009 campaign. Only one of those appearances was a start, with Chimbonda spending the rest of the season either out of the squad or on the bench.

Chimbonda had also already featured in the League Cup for Sunderland earlier that term, meaning he was cup-tied for the 2009 final against Manchester United, which Spurs lost. That start against Sunderland in March 2009 proved to be his final appearance for Tottenham, as he was sold to Blackburn for £2.5m that August.

Robbie Keane became a cult hero at Tottenham in his first spell at the club, before making an ill-fated move to Liverpool. His