'Big thanks to you all' – Mauricio Pochettino breaks silence with message to Spurs players following his sacking

Mauricio Pochettino appeared to leave a thank you message to his players after being sacked as Tottenham Hotspur manager.

Pochettino, who led Spurs to the Champions League final last season, was sacked after five years in charge of the club on Tuesday and promptly replaced by Jose Mourinho.

While Pochettino has yet to make an official statement following his sacking, the message to his former players is understood to represent a breaking of silence from the Argentine, albeit behind closed doors.

Pochettino's assistant Jesus Perez has posted a picture of the 47-year-old writing on a tactics board what seems to be a heartfelt note to his squad as he prepared to leave the club.

A picture of the board revealed a message reading: "Big thanks to you all! We can't to (sic) say goodbye... you will always be in our [heart symbol]."

After sacking Pochettino on Tuesday night, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, said: "We were extremely reluctant to make this change and it is not a decision the board have taken lightly, nor in haste.

"Regrettably domestic results at the end of last season and the beginning of this season have been extremely disappointing.

"It falls on the board to make the difficult decisions - this one made more so given the many memorable moments we have had with Mauricio and his coaching staff – but we do so in the club's best interests."