June 11, (THEWILL)- Tottenham Hotspur, one of the last holdouts of the big teams in the English Premier League to fill the slot of manager with a permanent name in the vacancy left after club chairman, Daniel Levy, fired former manager, Jose Mourinho, appears to have finally settled on a pick.
Reports monitored by THEWILL reveal that Spurs have settled for the Portuguese manager Paulo Fonseca, after advanced talks to bring in Serie A title-winning manager, Antonio Conte, collapsed recently.
Fonseca agreed to become the new manager at the Tottenham Stadium and the paperwork is being sorted before it is announced.
It has been a tedious process of decision-making for the north London club. They conducted a thorough, and at times frustrating, search for a successor to take Mourinho’s place. It involved reaching out to the likes of Leicester City’s Brendan Rodgers, Bayern Munich’s Hans Dieter Flick and incoming Bayern manager Julian Nagelsmann but without success.
And, just as it seemed they had secured a major coup with Inter’s previous manager Antonio Conte the talks stalled, forcing Levy to bow out. That was when Spurs turned to Fonseca, who was the manager of Roma until May this year and whose position was handed over to the same Mourinho he has come to replace at Tottenham.
Levy acted upon the recommendation of Spurs new sporting director Fabio Paritici, who made Fonseca the number one candidate for the manager’s slot and, who has held talks with the 48-year-old this week ahead of their negotiations. For the time being, it seems that Fonseca has agreed in principle to a two-year deal to take the Tottenham vacancy, with the option of an additional year based on outcomes.
Fonseca took Roma to the Europa League semi-finals in the just concluded season where a heavy away loss to runners-up Manchester United knocked them out at the semi-finals stage, though 48-year-old was not the club’s first choice, his track record of developing youngsters, as well as his capacity to play eye-catching football made him desirable.
THEWILL recalls that Fonseca was a candidate for the Tottenham job before Pochettino was appointed in 2014 and is in a similar mould to the Argentine as a manager in his ability to work with tight budgets as well as trusting youth players to deliver results for the club.
There is the possibility of Spurs announcing the deal with Fonseca at the same time as the formal presentation of Paritici in his new role as sporting director, having previously held a similar position at Juventus in Serie A. Once the paperwork for the agreement is finalised, Levy will sign off and the announcement will be made public.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
