U.S. men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino met with representatives from Italian club AC Milan over its vacant head coach position.
The meeting took place last week ahead of the USMNT’s World Cup camp in Georgia, sources have told The Athletic. Pochettino’s contract with the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), signed in 2024, expires after this summer’s World Cup on home soil.
The 54-year-old had been identified as a potential successor to Massimiliano Allegri, who left the club earlier this week, while Andoni Iraola — the head coach who is a free agent after leaving Bournemouth — is a leading candidate.
Milan are conducting a thorough search with a view to realising the ownership’s ambition to revive the club and make them not only a force again but one of the most compelling football projects in the world.
They parted company with Allegri, along with sporting director Igli Tare, chief executive Giorgio Furlani and technical director Geoffrey Moncada, in a radical shake-up of the club’s executive leadership on Monday.
The changes have come after Milan missed out on qualification for the Champions League for a second successive season, finishing fifth in Serie A — Italian football’s top division.
In March, Pochettino hinted he was considering staying in his role at the USMNT beyond the World Cup. “We are open,” Pochettino said. “We don’t have a contract for the future but why not if we are happy and the federation is happy?”
Pochettino replaced Gregg Berhalter as USMNT head coach following the side’s Copa America group stage exit in the summer of 2024.
The Argentine began his managerial career at Espanyol in Spain, where he spent nine years as a player across two spells, before moving to England with a 16-month spell in charge of Premier League side Southampton.
Pochettino left to take over at Tottenham Hotspur, whom he established as a top-four club in England’s top flight and led to the Champions League final in 2019, before departing fewer than six months later.
He went on to coach Paris Saint-Germain, winning three trophies including the 2021-22 Ligue 1 title. Pochettino was sacked at the end of that season and then spent the 2023-24 campaign in charge of Chelsea, before moving into international management with the U.S. in September 2024.
A potential move to Milan would see Pochettino reunited with USMNT winger Christian Pulisic, whose international teammate Yunus Musah is also contracted to the club but spent this season on loan at Atalanta.