From captaining Ronaldinho and Mikel Arteta to managing Kylian Mbappe and Neymar – how Mauricio Pochettino’s PSG love affair developed as new chapter in Paris begins

Mauricio Pochettino's love affair with Paris Saint-Germain will roll into it's next chapter on Wednesday night as he leads his former club out for the first time as manager.

The Argentine kicks off his managerial reign with a visit to Saint-Etienne at the Geoffroy Stadium as he sets about building a new era of success in the French capital.

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Pochettino spent two years playing in Paris at the start of the century, making 95 appearances and winning the 2001 Intertoto Cup.

Now, the Argentine boss has been tasked with leading PSG back to the French top flight’s summit and guiding them to glory in Europe, with his side set to face Barcelona in the last 16 of this season’s Champions League.

But how did Pochettino go from one of the Europe's most established defenders to football's most coveted coach?

Having grown up in Murphy, Argentina, he was scouted as 14-year-old by Jorge Griffa, the director of football at Newell's Old Boys, and none other than current Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa.

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Bielsa's influence on Pochettino as a player cannot be understated, as the former Tottenham boss explained earlier this year.

“When I played for Bielsa at Newell’s [Old Boys] Reserves, he was ahead of everyone,” Pochettino said.

“Remember there was no internet. But for every game we knew the formation and tactics that our opponents would play because Marcelo bought every newspaper in the country to study the teams.

“In the time that he was my coach at Newell’s Old Boys he was perhaps 20 years ahead of everybody.”

After impressing in his five years at Newell's, Poch turned down other offers in Argentine to move to Espanyol, where he would later reconnect with Bielsa and make his name as a legend of the club.

He established himself as one of Europe's top defenders in Catalonia, with one match against fierce rivals Barcelona in 1997 standing out as the pick of his performances.

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In what was a near faultless display at the now demolished Sarria Stadium, Poch expertly nullified Ronaldo out the game and helped Espanyol to a 2–0 win - their first derby victory in ten years.

Pochettino reconnected with Bielsa at Espanyol in 1998 but their reconciliation was cut short months later when the latter was offered the Argentina national team job.

And in 2001, Poch joined PSG for a new challenge at the age of 29.

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Leading a team filled with big names, Poch played nearly 100 games across three seasons for the French giants.

Ronaldinho, Nicolas Anelka, Jay-Jay Okocha and even a teenage Mikel Arteta were all in the ranks at the Parc des Princes, where Poch was quickly handed the armband by boss Luiz Fernandez.

However, despite the abundance of talent, his PSG side did not come close to matching the unprecedented success that the likes of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Angel Di Maria are enjoying.

There was a triumph in the Intertoto Cup in 2001 and a runners-up medal in the Coupe de France, but the Ligue 1 title eluded him.

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Perhaps the PSG job is Poch's toughest assignment yet in what has been a fine career in football.

He clearly overachieved with both Southampton and Tottenham in the Premier League, leading the latter to the 2019 Champions League final.

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Remarkably, he has the opportunity to win his first trophy in management when PSG face Marseille in the Trophee des Champions next week.

Make no mistake, managing big egos like Mbappe and Neymar will be no small task  - but captaining the superstars he did in his playing days will have certainly put him in good stead for the job.