Mauricio Pochettino is open to a return to Tottenham… and he could make Wilfried Zaha his first signing

MAURICIO POCHETTINO is open to a romantic Spurs return, according to one of the key men during his first reign.

David Webb was head of elite identification and player development at Tottenham between 2015-17 — and spotted Son Heung-min.

Mauricio Pochettino is a frontrunner for the job if Spurs oust Antonio ConteGetty

Palace flier Wilfried Zaha is much admired by PochettinoGetty

Webb went  on to be technical director and coach at Swedish side Ostersunds and head of football operations at Huddersfield, before a stint as York boss.

Poch is one of the contenders to take over with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy expected to give Antonio Conte the boot.

Webb, who also worked with Pochettino at Southampton, told SunSport: “I think  Spurs will change coach.

“I  don’t know the ins-and-outs of how fractured Poch’s relationship is with Daniel.

“And I don’t think that Poch wants to pigeon-hole himself solely to the Premier League.

“If a good offer were to come up in Spain or Germany, he’d be open to that, too.

“But the Premier League will always be his first choice. He  was phenomenal at  Tottenham — and  would be open to it again.”

Levy is weighing up axing Conte following the Italian’s explosive press conference after last Saturday’s 3-3 draw at Southampton, where he slated the players.

HOW TO GET FREE BETS ON FOOTBALL

Even if he remains, Conte is set to leave when his deal ends this summer.

Pochettino is available now, having been out of work since leaving Paris Saint-Germain last July.

But Levy also admires Marco Silva and Ange Postecoglou, who are impressing at Fulham and Celtic respectively. Webb worked at  Saints and then Spurs under chief talent-spotter Paul Mitchell, to whom he recommended Son.

At the time Son was playing for German club Bayer Leverkusen, where Webb had been a consultant coach between 2008-10, meaning he  had good links to sporting director Rudi Voller.

Webb said: “Son was still quite raw. He wasn’t consistently in the Bayer side — but had done enough in games to assist and score goals.”

Spurs spent £22million on Son in 2015 and have been rewarded with 99 Premier League goals and counting.

But there were other targets Webb  suggested which were sanctioned, including Ousmane Dembele and Dayot Upamecano.

The pair went on to be France internationals and  stars for Barcelona and Bayern Munich respectively.

Webb felt both could have been convinced at 17 to come to North London — and for less than £2.5m in total.

The first gem Webb unearthed was a ten-year-old Wilfried Zaha, who was playing in Croydon for Whitehorse Wanderers, before Crystal Palace signed him.

Webb still keeps in contact with Zaha, who is out of contract at Palace this summer.

And Webb said: “He’s had good offers from abroad like Saudi Arabia  but I think his ideal one would be to test himself in the Premier League at a higher club.

“Poch was a big fan of his. I still think he’s attractive for a couple of years because he’s still got great attributes for the Premier League.”