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The date is etched in Mauricio Pochettino’s memory: November 19, 2019, two years to the day last Friday since he left Tottenham. 

Now, Pochettino is not one of those cagey managers who hides his true feelings beneath a hard facade of emotional repression. He is shrewd in many respects but his heart might as well be emblazoned on his sleeve, like a minor shirt sponsor.

‘Of course now, it’s the 17th [November]’ he says, looking rueful on a Zoom call from Paris Saint-Germain’s training ground on Wednesday. ‘In two days it is the anniversary, the two years since we left Tottenham. It’s in my mind. It’s really painful.’

It is like listening to a spurned lover who knows the precise time and date of a break-up from their partner.