Mauricio Pochettino struggled to handle having Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe in same team

Expected USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino was once in charge of one of the most formidable attacking lineups of all time.

The 52-year-old Argentine made waves in the Premier League in charge of Southampton before moving on to Tottenham, where he thrust his name onto the world stage. Pochettino managed Spurs to a Champions League final in 2019 but ultimately came up short, and the wheels flew off the season after.

After just over a year off, he landed at French giants Paris Saint-Germain in the New Year of 2021. The club were coming off the back of a Champions League final appearance themselves the season prior, a 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich, despite having Neymar and Kylian Mbappe in attack.

Pochettino failed to win Ligue 1 the season of his arrival too. It was the second time that PSG had lost the French title since 2011/12, with Lille topping the table in a shocking turn of events. PSG immediately hit the transfer market, with arguably the best soccer player of all time, Lionel Messi , arriving from Barcelona on a free transfer in the summer of 2021.

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Pochettino had world soccer's best attack at his disposal, and expectations of a Champions League were placed on his shoulders. They did get back to winning ways domestically, reclaiming the Ligue 1 crown. However, PSG's hopes of a club-first Champions League came crashing down in the first round of the knockout stages.

PSG were defeated 3-2 on aggregate by Real Madrid, spelling the end of Pochettino's time in charge of the team. The French giants parted ways with Pochettino in the summer of 2022 and went for a domestic name, Christophe Galtier, with hopes a Champions League crown could be clinched the following season.

"For Barca to have Messi or for Madrid to have Cristiano [Ronaldo] is a blessing. But when you put in too many players who all need their place and to be number one, there can be confusion. In the end, when you play, it's 11 players with one ball. There was a penalty, and who takes it? It's not even a coach's decision," Pochettino later admitted.

PSG had three worldly luxury players, on top of a fairly stacked roster in midfield, defense, and in-between the sticks - but ultimately it was Pochettino and the club's downfall. The coach was later vindicated, as his successor Galtier also struggled to win the Champions League with Messi, Mbappe, and Neymar.

And so did current boss and 2015 Barcelona UCL-winning manager, Luis Enrique, who oversaw the departure of Messi to Inter Miami in 2023, and Neymar to Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia.

Pochettino struggled with his roster at Chelsea too. However, he was given a highly saturated squad thanks to the splurging of the new owner, American Todd Boehly. The Stamford Bridge club has spent north of $1 billion since Boehly's arrival and the spending has continued heading into the new season under Enzo Maresca, where Pochettino could further be vindicated should the Italian face similar struggles.