As Tottenham prepare for their crucial trip to Stoke City, Chief Football Writer ROB DRAPER reveals how an offbeat Argentinian coach with impeccable family connections is proving to be a massive influence on one of the Premier League’s most sought-after managers

He was the eccentric young coach making his name with a team of youngsters whom he preferred over established stars. And he has become an iconic figure in football, beloved by tacticians and seen as something of a guru to Pep Guardiola.

But Marcelo Bielsa’s greatest gift to English football is probably the influence he had on the man now implementing his methods with an energetic team full of young talent at title-chasing Tottenham.

For Mauricio Pochettino owes an enormous debt of gratitude to 60-year-old Argentine Bielsa, the man Guardiola described as the ‘best coach in the world’ and who is still in the frame for the Swansea City job, meaning that mentor and protege could yet meet next season.

Mauricio Pochettino has been a revelation in mounting Tottenham's serious title challenge this season

The Argentine coach has produced an exciting team of young players, including Delle Ali and Harry Kane

Pochettino (centre) learned his trade while playing under legendary coach Marcelo Bielsa (2nd right)

Until four years ago, Bielsa and Pochettino’s only significant impact on our game was their involvement in one of England’s few famous victories at the World Cup, the 1-0 win over Argentina in 2002.

Pochettino was adjudged to have fouled Michael Owen, allowing David Beckham to score a decisive penalty; Bielsa was the manager who shed tears when Argentina could not qualify from the group.

But much of what Tottenham have achieved this season is rooted in Bielsa, not least 44-year-old Pochettino’s unwavering faith in youngsters, especially English players like Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Kyle Walker and Danny Rose. That is pure Bielsa, meaning England, and particularly Spurs, do owe Argentina a debt of gratitude.

For when Bielsa got his break as a coach it was with Newell’s Old Boys in 1990. There he won the Argentine league with a team composed of energetic players largely between the ages of 19 and 21. And one of those he relied on most was Pochettino.

Pochettino (left) was adjudged to have fouled Michael Owen leading to Argentina's exit from 2002 World Cup

Pochettino's dedication to bringing young players through can be traced back to Bielsa's methods

Bielsa, who has been linked with Swansea City, last role in management was with Marseille

A new tactical template now adopted by Pochettino at White Hart Lane changed the game and swept away the likes of Boca Juniors and River Plate. And Pochettino, in his last season there — 1993-94 — even played alongside and roomed with another icon of the game, a certain Diego Maradona.

In Argentina, slowing the game down with a No 10 or playmaker had become a staple; Bielsa did away with that, insisting everyone run and press. For a player like Ricardo Lunari, Bielsa’s arrival was hard to bear.

‘It was very difficult for me to adjust to Bielsa’s system,’ he said. ‘I was used to being the star when he took over but he wanted me to become another regular soldier.’

Pochettino has referenced Bielsa’s arrival in the past. ‘He took Newell’s to a higher level than any other team and our tactical variations changed the structure of Argentine football.

‘We played man-to-man marking and players were expected to perform equally well in defending and attacking or be able to stand in for another player’s position.’ Lunari, now manager of Millonarios in Colombia and Bielsa’s assistant during his time as Chile national team manager, says Pochettino has absorbed the Bielsa principles at Tottenham.

‘Bielsa and Pochettino’s ideas on football are practically the same,’ said Lunari. ‘They want to attack all over the field and base their tactics on the young players.

‘They have different personalities, of course. Bielsa has an explosive temper and he lives matches like a mad man. Pochettino has always been a much calmer guy. But I definitely recognise Bielsa’s ideas in Tottenham. Pressing was the main concept, it was the key. Even if we conceded, Bielsa would say the mistake came from not having applied the right pressure in a certain place of the pitch.’

Former Newell's player Ricardo Lunari, now manager of Millonarios, credits Bielsa with the pressing game

Kane wheels away after scoring against Arsenal on his way to becoming the Premier League's top scorer

Once Tottenham star and manager Ossie Ardiles claims Biesla 'has the most charisma in football'

For Tottenham legend Ossie Ardiles, who is close to compatriot Pochettino, Bielsa represents the most significant influence on Argentine football apart from Cesar Menotti and Carlos Bilardo, the managers who won the 1978 and 1986 World Cups respectively.

‘Outside of those two, Bielsa is the Argentine who has the most charisma in football,’ said Ardiles. ‘They call him El Loco. But it’s not like he’s crazy, he’s loco about football. He’s obsessive. He managed Mauricio at Newell’s and Bielsa was the guy who discovered him and his style is pressure, pressure.’

Bielsa cuts an odd figure in football, coming from a wealthy, educated family of lawyers; his brother, Rafael, became Argentina’s Foreign Secretary; his sister, Maria Eugenia, has been the vice-governor of their home province, Santa Fe.

But Bielsa’s obsession was always football and as such he became coach to the team at the University of Buenos Aires and from there moved to a job working with the youth teams at Newell’s. It was then he would have his first encounter with Pochettino, even though the current Tottenham manager was wholly unaware at the time. Pochettino comes from Murphy, a backwater town 70 miles north of Rosario. But while enjoying a late-night barbecue, Bielsa heard a good player they had been watching was about to sign for rivals Rosario.

It was midnight and Bielsa collected his boss, Jorge Griffa, to drive to Murphy, knock on the door and attempt to persuade the Pochettinos that their son should join Newell’s instead. Only problem was Mauricio, 13, was sleeping.

His father crept into the bedroom, lifted the bedsheets so Bielsa could check he had the right physique. Bielsa was impressed. ‘What footballers’ legs he has!’ he told Griffa. In the morning, Mauricio signed for Newell’s.

Claudio Vivas, who also worked with Bielsa in Argentina and Athletic Bilbao in Spain, said: ‘I’m quite sure Bielsa will always be a reference point for Pochettino. When Mauricio stopped playing in 2008, he joined Marcelo at the Under 21 tournament in Toulon with Chile, when Bielsa was then working with the new generation of players.

‘Mauricio was able to see Bielsa’s methods directly as he was about to become a manager himself.

‘I like Mauricio’s Tottenham. They are aggressive, effective, treat the ball well and are ready to take advantage of pressing in small spaces. Tottenham represent this kind of football, fast-paced and defined by collective pressing.

Pochettino has forged a young team at Spurs, which trail Leicester by seven points in the title run-in

Despite his cool exterior, Pochettino has 'passion raging inside his body', according to Claudio Vivas

‘Sometimes people say Mauricio is too cool, too calm. But I’m sure the passion is raging inside his body. He’s always been able to keep that exterior calmness, ever since he turned pro at 17.

‘But that temperament enables him to have a closer relationship with the players. You can see how the squad believes him and respond to his ideas. When we worked recently with Marcelo at Athletic Bilbao, Mauricio would always beat us with his Espanyol team. You can clearly see that strong connection with the team in Tottenham, too.’