Next permanent Tottenham manager odds: Julian Nagelsmann, Mauricio Pochettino and more assessed
Antonio Conte’s brief yet eventful spell as Spurs boss came to an end after 16 months with the Italian leaving the North London outfit fourth in the Premier League table.
- Published before both Graham Potter and Brendan Rodgers were sacked on April 2, 2023.
The club also failed to progress deep into any of their cup competitions this season under Conte, most recently exiting the Champions League at the hands of AC Milan.
Cristian Stellini has been installed as interim boss while the search for a permanent manager goes on in the background of a chaotic period off the pitch for chairman Daniel Levy.
Director of football Fabio Paratici is also seemingly on the brink of losing his job after FIFA decided to extend his sanctions and suspend all football activity for him globally.
It is a big ask for anybody to step into the shoes that Conte has now left, however, there is also an opportunity to build something with the existing personnel.
There are a few candidates who are strongly involved in the conversation.
Tottenham manager on first day of 23/24 Premier League season (via Sky Bet)
- Brendan Rodgers - 3/1
- Mauricio Pochettino - 5/1
- Graham Potter - 6/1
- Julian Nagelsmann - 6/1
- Arne Slot - 7/1
- Vincent Kompany - 7/1
- Roberto De Zerbi - 10/1
Odds correct at 0915 BST (03/04/23)
Julian Nagelsmann
A late entry to the party but one who has generated a great deal of buzz almost immediately, 34-year-old German Julian Nagelsmann is now hot property for Europe’s elite following his departure from Bayern Munich.
Before taking over at Bayern, Nagelsmann built a reputation for being one of the most tactically flexible coaches in the Bundesliga, playing fantastic football at Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig, guiding the former to the Champions League for the first time in their history in his second season.
He would be the perfect fit for Spurs at this point in his career and it seems like Spurs could do with someone of his profile as well.
Nagelsmann would bring a huge deal of tactical flexibility as well as a focus on high-intensity pressing football, focusing on fluid passing between the thirds as well as controlling matches with the ball.
He is not married to one school of tactics though, and is known to be adaptable to the opponent. For example, Bayern deployed a 4-4-2 against Eintracht Frankfurt in the first Bundesliga fixture this season and in his last game as Bayern boss, Nagelsmann played a 3-1-4-2 against Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen.
The possible negatives of Nagelsmann might be that he struggles to get the buy-in from big personalities in the dressing room and so the likes of Hugo Lloris, Eric Dier, Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min may need some convincing.
Club chairman Levy will also need to adjust to Nagelsmann’s methods off the pitch and on the training ground as he is anything but traditional.
What is also worth mentioning is that he places a huge emphasis on man-management, which might work in his favour as a potential Spurs manager.
Arne Slot
Turbo-charging the first side to push Ajax away from the Eredivisie title and claim it for themselves, Arne Slot is doing wonders at Feyenoord.
The 44-year-old guided the Dutch outfit to the inaugural final of the Europa Conference League last season, dismantling every side that came their way only to lose 1-0 to Jose Mourinho’s Roma in the final.
This season, they have been on a roll again and look well set to complete a domestic double with success in the Europa League hinging on the outcome of a rematch in the quarter-finals against Roma.
His brilliant first-season exploits at Feyenoord were rewarded by him being awarded the Rinus Michels manager of the year award, ahead of then Ajax boss Erik ten Hag.
He has been likened to Pep Guardiola by Dutch football expert Marcel van der Kraan.
“He is very similar to Pep Guardiola, his ideas are very similar, he is a massive fan of Pep and he plays the same time,” said van der Kraan.
“He goes ultra-attacking; he is almost like a maniac. Not on the touchline but it is fantastic to see how he has turned an average side into a wonderful attacking machine.”
Slot also places a huge focus on pushing youth, either through the academy or through recruitment.
This is evidenced by the average age of his squad being just 24.3.
Of his first-team squad this season, there are just eight players over the age of 25, with the likes of Quilindschy Hartman, Quentin Timber and Santiago Gimenez all becoming an important part of the side.
Perhaps the most definitive result of this season was beating Ajax 3-2 at the Johan Cruijff Arena, effectively cementing their status as the best side in the country.
The only complication with Slot could be the costs of bringing him in, there was strong interest from Leeds in the January window, however, they failed to entice Feyenoord with the money they offered to acquire Slot’s services.
An exciting young manager with a focus on front-foot football seems to tick a lot of boxes for the Spurs faithful.
Roberto de Zerbi
It seemed impossible to improve on the excellent work of Graham Potter at Brighton, but 43-year-old Roberto de Zerbi has gone and done just that.
Of all the contenders to be Spurs boss, de Zerbi is the most experienced.
Although his work at Brighton has helped him leapfrog into elite manager conversations, de Zerbi has been quietly one of the most innovative tactical coaches in European football with his Sassuolo and Shakhtar Donetsk sides being highly regarded for their exciting style of play.
At Brighton, he has shaped the Seagulls into a side that not just control games with the ball, but they also have the goals to show for it.
Only title chasing Arsenal (49) and Manchester City( 50) have more goals from open-play when compared to Brighton’s 35.
Furthermore, only Manchester City (64.2), Liverpool (60.2) and Arsenal (60.1) average more possession per game than Brighton (59.1), underlining De Zerbi’s focus on controlling matches through attacking football within a structure.
Even without a recognisable goal-scorer before the emergence of Evan Ferguson, Brighton have found goals from all over the team, with the likes of Solly March, Kaoru Mitoma, Alexis Mac Allister and Pascal Gross all contributing at a healthy rate through goals and assists.
A manager with De Zerbi’s ideas, combined with Spurs’ resources and infrastructure make for a scary combination.
Mauricio Pochettino
A choice that would be thoroughly welcomed by all of a Spurs persuasion, it seems like Mauricio Pochettino’s return is a question of when rather than if.
The Argentine has been out of work since leaving PSG at the end of last season, failing to guide them to success in Europe and struggling with the personalities at the French capital club.
Despite the way his first spell ended, Pochettino still has plenty of stock amongst the Spurs faithful and would grab the opportunity of a return with both hands if offered to do so.
A return would come with less pressure for Pochettino to deliver success right away and he would likely get the time he needs to rebuild this side into the title contenders of previous seasons under him.
There is the potential stumbling block in the shape of Paratici, since Pochettino would not necessarily work with a director of football. However, if the Italian’s exit from the club is confirmed by the end of the season, it would make things a lot easier to come back.
There are doubts about whether his methods are good enough to get the better of the current cohort of managers in the Premier League with the quality and competition tougher than ever.
That PSG spell has certainly not helped those doubts and if he does indeed return to Spurs, there will be significant rebuild required to reconstruct this Spurs side and take it away from the kind of team that Conte would use.
Cristian Stellini
Unlikely as it may seem, interim boss Stellini is also a potential contender for the role if all the other names become unavailable.
Very much a disciple of Conte’s methods, Stellini’s approach would not be very different from that of the 53-year-old.
Stellini took over as the manager briefly when Conte was away due to illness and being handed the interim role would mean that there is not too much changing - at least in terms of the coaching and training.
We have seen interim coaches do well in the past and secure the top job and Stellini has ten games to prove that he is worth consideration for the role in the summer.
However, if he fails to impress in this spell, combine that with the availability of other contenders and it should see him slip down the shortlist for the job.