Mauricio Pochettino was officially named the new coach of French champion Paris Saint-Germain Saturday following the sacking of Thomas Tuchel.
PSG said on its website that former Tottenham Hotspur manager Pochettino had signed a contract until June 30, 2022 with an option for an additional year.
The 48-year old Argentine was the only name in the frame to take over at the club where he played from 2001 to 2003 after PSG abruptly ended Tuchel's involvement on December 24, reportedly for comments viewed as critical of the Qatari owners.
His priority will be to sate the Qatari-backed club's quest for Champions League glory.
Tuchel, who oversaw the club's first ever Champions League final appearance last season, guided Neymar and company into the knock-out stages this season before being axed.
Pochettino's first major test will be the Champions League last-16 away leg at Barcelona next month.
Pochettino took Spurs to the Champions League final last year but his side were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool and he was sacked in November, ending a successful but silverware-free four-year spell in charge
Posted by Sports Tribune on Thursday, 30 April 2020
Pochettino will take charge of his first match next Saturday at Saint-Etienne as Ligue 1 resumes after the winter break with PSG one point off the leaders in third.
Then, on February 16, he will be plotting the downfall of his compatriot Lionel Messi's Barca at the Camp Nou, with the return leg on March 6.
Like Tuchel, Pochettino was sacked after leading Spurs to their first ever appearance in a Champions League final, against Liverpool in 2019.
Although he has yet to win any silverware the former PSG defender's stock is high in managerial circles.
Pochettino made Tottenham a consistent Champions League qualifier in four years at the Premier League club before his departure in 2019.
He arrives in the French capital after being linked with a number of high-profile clubs, including Manchester United, Real Madrid and Barca.
Former Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino said he was open to coaching again in England's Premier League and...
Posted by Sports Tribune on Saturday, 23 May 2020
He is due to meet up with the world's most expensive player Neymar, France's World Cup-winning forward Kylian Mbappe and their teammates at PSG's first post-Christmas training session Sunday.
His first coaching position was at struggling Espanyol, where in 2009 his first match in charge was against Barca.
He earned plaudits for saving the Spanish outfit, where he played under fellow Argentine Marcelo Bielsa in 1998, from relegation.
The son of a farmer from Murphy, in the north of Argentina, he will have under his wing several compatriots to count on such as Mauro Icardi, Angel di Maria and Leandro Paredes.
Pochettino will be keen to take advantage of the transfer window to bring in new faces, with French newspaper Le Parisien identifying his former Spurs charge, Inter Milan's attacking midfielder Christian Eriksen, as one target.
Dele Alli, who has fallen out of favor under Jose Mourinho at Tottenham, is another.
And looking further ahead, given their Argentine ties Pochettino may be the catalyst for six-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi to consider PSG as potential new employers when he is free to leave Barca at the end of the season.