Tottenham Hotspur are expected to name Mauricio Pochettino as their head coach in the next 24 hours after closing in on an agreement that will secure him on a three-year contract.

Pochettino, 42, hopes to take Jay Rodriguez with him to north London, although the deal is complicated by the striker, who scored 15 league goals to help Southampton finish eighth, having a knee injury that will sideline him until October.

The Argentine manager is effectively Tottenham’s third choice after Louis van Gaal turned them down to take over at Old Trafford and they were unable to try for Carlo Ancelotti because the Italian kept his job after Real Madrid’s Champions League triumph on Saturday.

Tottenham have long sought a promising young manager. They lost