Pochettino’s driven, competitive nature means that is an itch he will want to scratch when his United appointment is confirmed.
While Spurs have always appeared to be his first love, there is also no doubt United occupies a special place in his thoughts.
Spanish football expert Guillem Balague, who worked with Pochettino on his book Brave New World, says: “There is a fit with the people at the club too.
“Omar Berrada is a fan. When Manchester City drew up a shortlist to replace Pep Guardiola, some City supporters, including Omar, argued for Pochettino to be on it.
“There are plenty of clues about his feelings for United in the book. He was at the stadium in 1999 when United won the Champions League.
“Sir Alex Ferguson is mentioned 28 times, more than any other name in the biography.
“Spurs tried to push back and cut those references. Pochettino and I talked it over and decided that none of it would be touched. That shows how much it mattered to him.”
Pochettino is a renowned builder, as he proved at Spurs after succeeding the sacked Tim Sherwood, working with Harry Kane to develop the recently crowned Ballon d’Or winner, as well as bringing Son Heung-Min to the club for a bargain £22m from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015.
If Pochettino can repeat that – a tough job in United’s circumstances – and reproduce the easy-on-the-eye, attacking football played with relentless energy, then he could finally be the perfect fit Ratcliffe has so far looked in vain to discover.
Pochettino is also his own man, so it will be intriguing to see how he works with Ratcliffe, Berrada and Wilcox.
The road to Pochettino’s sacking at Spurs effectively started following a friendly win against Real Madrid only weeks after their Champions League final defeat, when he made it clear he was not having enough influence at the club.
He enjoys warm relationships with his players, with a track record of improvement. It was no co-incidence that Cole Palmer enjoyed his best season working under Pochettino at Chelsea, scoring 25 goals in 45 appearances.
Pochettino, however, is also single-minded and ruthless, as he proved with an emphatic response to criticism for not phoning the players he left out of the USA World Cup squad.
He said: “When I was a player, when I didn’t make the roster I didn’t want my coach to call me. The players who didn’t make the roster, they don’t want to hear me say ‘I apologise’. What are you going to say? Am I going to lie?”
He will need to call on every one of those qualities if and when he assumes control at United.
Back to that lunch date with Ferguson.
The final word on that day went to Pochettino as the pair argued over who was picking up the tab.
Ferguson said Pochettino could pay if he named an Argentina player who scored in the 1930 World Cup final.
Pochettino, in what he claimed was a moment of inspiration, named Guillermo Stabile.
He won that argument. Now both he and Ferguson will hope Pochettino can produce more moments of inspiration to win something more substantial at United.
