On 27 May 2014, Levy appointed Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino as head coach. The team reached the 2015 Football League Cup Final in Pochettino's first season in charge which also saw a number of the club's academy players step up to establish themselves in the first team, including Harry Kane, Danny Rose, Ryan Mason, Nabil Bentaleb and Andros Townsend. His team qualified for Europe with a fifth-place finish in 2014–15 before challenging for the Premier League title in the 2015–16 and 2016–17 seasons with a squad consisting of the youngest average age in the division. They also achieved their best ranking in 2016–17 since the 1962–63 season under Bill Nicholson. The team have been ranked among the top 4 since the 2015–16 season, allowing them to qualify and participate in the Champions League since 2016–17. They reached the final for the first time in 2018–19, but lost to Liverpool in the 2019 UEFA Champions League Final.