Southampton have sacked Nigel Adkins as manager and announced he has been replaced by Mauricio Pochettino.

Adkins had led Southampton to back to back promotions and the south coast side had lost just two games from their last twelve league fixtures, including going unbeaten in their last five.

Pochettino is a former Argentina international, playing twenty times for his country including at the 2002 World Cup, where he brought Michael Owen down during a group game between England and Argentina.

Pochettino was previously manager at Espanyol but was sacked earlier this season by the Barcelona club. Prior to his dismissal he had been the longest running manager in La Liga, having led Espanyol for three seasons.