Mauricio Pochettino has previously hailed Adam Lallana's ability as a player.
The former Tottenham boss praised the Liverpool midfielder after their time working together at Southampton.
Lallana flourished under Pochettino at St Mary's for a season-and-a-half, before joining Liverpool in a £25million move.
But the England international has struggled to break into the Reds' first team in recent seasons and according to reports, the 31-year-old is ready to leave Anfield this summer, with his contract expiring in June.
According to The Mail, Lallana's availability on a free transfer has alerted Arsenal and Tottenham, who are both monitoring the situation and are poised to make offers to the player's representatives.
And Pochettino, who was sacked by Spurs in November and replaced by Jose Mourinho, previously spoke highly of Lallana.
In an interview with Joe, the Argentinian said: "When we arrived there [Southampton], we watched all the analysis videos of him [Lallana] and it was ‘phwoar! What a player.' But why was he always injured? We needed to do some assessments.
“One day, we called him in and said ‘okay, we’ve looked at why you’re having all these issues and we have created a special plan for you to follow. If you trust and you do it, this is how we see your role for us.
"He was so determined to follow it, he was so professional."
Pochettino also recalled how he spoke to the Southampton chairman about Lallana, and urged the Saints chief to give the midfielder space to find his best form.
"It was a day just like this, a sunny afternoon in April, that we spent nearly three hours on the pitch after training with Adam.
“I remember, he was under unbelievable pressure. I needed to know what was wrong. It was because the chairman (Cortese) kept calling him before and after games complaining about the result or the performance.
"I called the chairman and said, ‘please, stop calling Adam. When you have problems, call me instead. He is the captain, you cannot put the pressure of the entire club on his shoulders, come on!
"It stopped and bam! - Adam was our best player that season.”
