Don't be surprised by Mauricio Pochettino's sudden departure from Tottenham Hotspur. The timing may have caught the football world on the hop, coming towards the end of an international break and the return of Premier League action just four days away, but the fault line between the club and the Argentine has been growing for months.
Pochettino's side-door exit from Madrid's Estadio Metropolitano, within an hour of Tottenham's Champions League final defeat against Liverpool in June, when he and his coaching staff walked through the media centre, past bemused journalists and straight for a flight to Barcelona, was a clear hint that all was not well at the London club.