Mauricio Pochettino Not Interested In Morgan Schneiderlin

Mauricio Pochettino has insisted he never wanted to sign Morgan Schneiderlin for Tottenham but says he likes Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha.

Schneiderlin was a star for Pochettino at Southampton and the midfielder was linked with a reunion with his old manager at Tottenham before joining Manchester United in July 2015.

However, the 27-year-old has failed to impress at Old Trafford and United boss Jose Mourinho says he can leave the club next month. Everton are favourites for his signature but Pochettino is not interested, and says he never was.

“It was a rumour. There was never interest in him,” Pochettino said. “We never made an offer [to Southampton]. We never made an offer to him.”

Asked if the emergence of Harry Winks, the 20-year-old midfielder who started Spurs’ last match against Burnley, had affected his thinking, Pochettino said: “Harry is independent of any other situation in terms of whether we can improve our squad.

“In the last few months, Harry has appeared with power and I think he is doing a great job for the team. He is playing very well and I am very happy with him. It’s true that the beginning of the season and today, Harry was improving a lot. Now he is going forward and he is showing that he can play in the starting XI.

“He can play like a holding midfielder but he is a player that can adapt. His quality is that he is a player that can adapt his skills in a different position. That is fantastic.”

Pochettino has little business to do in January and admits that it will always be tough to find a good player midway through the season.

“I am happy with the squad,” he added. “At the same time I recognise it is always very difficult to improve the squad in January. Because the best players, it is difficult for their teams to allow the good players to leave halfway through the season.

“If some special situation happens, maybe we need to be open. But it will be tough or difficult to improve the squad in that period.”

In August, Palace chairman Steve Parrish revealed that Spurs had had a bid rejected for Zaha and the club’s former manager Alan Pardew said the 24-year-old winger wanted to leave for Spurs.

“I don’t want to speak about a player at another club. That was another rumour… But I like good players and he is a good player. But I don’t like to start focusing on some names. Then you start a rumour,” Pochettino said.

Tottenham’s chief scout Ian Broomfield left the club earlier this month, while head of recruitment Paul Mitchell is serving notice after resigning in August.

Both men were part of a five-man transfer committee but Pochettino says Spurs will not change the way they conduct transfer business, saying he will still speak directly to chairman Daniel Levy.

“Nothing’s changed,” he said. “I always had the chairman’s number and that changes nothing! We have a very good communication with Daniel and nothing changes. With the people next to us we will work in the same way.”