Tottenham Hotspur are at a crossroads yet again. With their exit from the Champions League in the round of 16 at the hands of Milan confirmed, it feels like the final nail in the coffin for Antonio Conte’s spell at the club.
In the space of just over a week, Spurs have been knocked out of the FA Cup, the Champions League and been beaten by Wolves in the Premier League in between. Questions are there to be asked of Conte, whose contract expires in the summer.
“I have a contract with Tottenham,” said Conte after the defeat against Milan.
“I respect the contract. At the end of the season, assessments will be made with the club in the most serene way.”
Whether those assessments are acted upon now or at the end of the season, remains to be seen. But Spurs’ nosedive in form and result does force the question: What comes next?
This is a decisive moment for Daniel Levy and co – the next appointment could very well make or break the club’s future.
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Is Thomas Tuchel an option?
If recent history has taught us anything, it’s that former Chelsea managers are always an option that the Spurs hierarchy have considered.
Conte is the most recent example but in total, there have been four former Chelsea managers who have taken over Spurs in Levy’s reign. Jose Mourinho, Andre Vilas-Boas and Glenn Hoddle are the others.
Although Thomas Tuchel’s period as Chelsea boss soured towards the end, resulting in his eventual sacking, his Chelsea side were a genuinely elite European side to begin with.
The German’s coaching methods produced incredible results as Chelsea lifted the Champions League at the end of the 2020-21 season with a win over Manchester City.
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In the 2021-22 season, he led the club to a third-placed finish in the league, ahead of Conte’s Spurs, who finished three points off their rivals.
He has also previously reached the Champions League final with PSG and won two Ligue 1 titles there, so his CV is clearly impressive, to say the least.
Tuchel ticks a lot of boxes for Levy and Spurs and would make for a perfectly safe appointment from Spurs.
Pochettino reunion too good to turn down?
At the front of the line of managers available to take over at Spurs is former boss Mauricio Pochettino himself, who has been out of work since being sacked by PSG last summer to be replaced by Christophe Galtier.
Pochettino transformed Spurs into a title-challenging side and even went all the way to the final in the Champions League, only losing to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool in the 2018-19 final.
He still enjoys a great rapport with the Spurs faithful and a reunion between both parties may be what’s best for all involved.
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Pochettino’s reputation has taken a bit of a hit after his spell at PSG but that does not take away from the fact that in the right environment, he can be a very good manager, as he showed previously in north London.
As for Spurs, appointing Pochettino is a ‘one step back and two steps forward’ type of scenario where the club sacrifice immediate success for long-term growth and development of the squad into potentially another title challenge.
Luis Enrique a wildcard option?
Ever since leaving the Spanish national team as head coach, Luis Enrique has been linked with a return to club management with various sides.
Spurs are believed to be the latest, with managing director Fabio Paratici known to be a ‘big admirer’ of the Spaniard, according to the Athletic.
Enrique is best known for guiding Barcelona to a treble in the 2015-16 season and his direct attacking approach brought the best out of Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar that year.
At Spurs, he will have a variety of profiles to work with in attack and may even get the best out of someone like Richarlison, who has lamented his lack of game-time for Spurs of late.
What about Paratici?
Paratici, along with some other officials from his former club Juventus was banned by the Italian Football Federation for his role in Juventus’s alleged financial irregularities and an accounting scandal which has since resulted in 15 points being docked from the Turin club.
Pending the outcome of an appeal, Paratici may be banned from Italian football first, and then globally as well.
Not that the Italian played a major role in Conte’s arrival, which was Levy’s decision – he will however, be a presence that any incoming manager will be wary of. In the summer of 2021, Spurs were close to appointing Paulo Fonseca, who is now at Lille.
Speaking to Telegraph Sport, Fonseca revealed that Paratici was the reason that Spurs pulled out of negotiations, with the Italian having concerns about Fonseca’s attacking style of play.
Other options that may well be worth considering for Spurs include Celtic’s Ange Postecoglou, Brighton’s Roberto De Zerbi and Brentford’s Thomas Frank.
Those options would be viable long-term managers but are unlikely to leave their respective clubs at present.
Conte’s future at Spurs remains uncertain and so does Paratici’s but appointing the right manager at this juncture is key in fixing the issues that have ailed the club in recent seasons.
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