MAURICIO Pochettino says that Saints’ drive to improve commercially must not come at the expense of the team.

New chairman Ralph Krueger spoke this week of the “huge gap” that existed in the club’s commercial standing, which is one area he is keen to quickly address.

Saints manager Pochettino welcomes plans to grow, but he said that decisions which could potentially have an impact on the team must be made carefully.

Pochettino was speaking in response to a hypothetical question about whether he would be happy at the prospect of going further afield than normal in pre-season, for example to China or the United States.

“First of all, I don’t know exactly what words he said, what exactly he said,” explained Pochettino, referring to Krueger’s statements.

“Second of all, in my personal opinion, I think there always needs to be agreement between the commercial side of the club and the sporting side of the club, because that will lead to the best outcome for the football club.

“There has to be an agreement between both sides, between what’s best for the football club in a commercial way and also in a sporting way and, once we come to that agreement, then we will be able to make the best decisions for this football club.”