Arne Slot, coming to a Premier League ground near you soon?
That could be the result of a Champions League group game next season, with Slot’s Feyenoord winning the Dutch league and set to return to Europe’s premier competition for the first time since 2017-18.
But, given their Eredivisie exploits, where an eight-point lead saw them win the title with two games to spare, it could be because Slot’s attractive brand of football is turning heads around the continent – and specifically in England.
A reported target for Tottenham – especially with Julian Nagelsmann out of the running – Slot’s name could soon emerge as an option elsewhere.
Slot may not be short of options, but the prize of Champions League football by staying put could exceed all offers on the table, as proved to be the case when he turned down Leeds after Jesse Marsch was sacked.
“Leeds is a very nice club,” Slot told ESPN recently. “In the middle of the season, with still so much to play for here, I didn’t think that was a good time to leave for England. It was also better from a family point of view to stay here for a while.
“The Premier League is the number one competition in Europe. I also think it is very valuable to leave somewhere in a positive way. Giovanni van Bronckhorst became a champion here, but a year later his life no longer looked so nice.”
So Slot is telling us, there’s a chance… The Premier League has a pulling power like no other, currently, and with Slot evolving into one of the best young coaches around, the prospect of the 44-year-old doing an Erik ten Hag – swapping the Dutch champions for England – looks likely, if not this summer then at least in the coming years.
Why Slot is so highly coveted: ‘He wants to entertain’
Outperforming PSV and Ajax is no simple task in the Eredivisie, and yet Slot’s Feyenoord are doing so in style.
“His style is high-energy attacking football in a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 with two deep lying midfielders and a reliance on wingers to create chances,” Football Oranje editor Michael Bell tells i.
“However, he also has the strongest defence in the Eredivisie this season. This is down to a relentless press to win the ball back. Slot is a Pep Guardiola-type more than a Jose Mourinho. He wants to entertain, he wants to attack and he wants his players to give it all on the pitch.
“He is gaining big reputation because of his steady and consistent rise from AZ Alkmaar to Feyenoord. He uses tight budgets, improves young players and plays nice to watch attacking football.
“Premier League sides will see that he is guiding Feyenoord to a comfortably league title. He is doing all this with a good manner and is well liked by his players and the fans. All this will be green flags to any club looking at Rotterdam.”
‘Slot can replicate De Zerbi and Howe’
Slot has alluded to the fact his family raises an issue when it comes to potentially working abroad, with his children said to be in secondary school in Rotterdam.
But he has stressed the right club at the right time would sway him.
Next Tottenham manager odds
- Xabi Alonso 3-1
- Arne Slot 5-1
- Vincent Kompany 9-1
- Brendan Rodgers 10-1
- Luis Enrique 12-1
- Mauricio Pochettino 14-1
- Graham Potter 14-1
- Ryan Mason 14-1
- Thomas Frank 20-1
“I think at some point there will come a time when you as a trainer will also look abroad,” Slot added when talking to ESPN. “It could of course be that that moment is already in the summer. There are always clubs that can pass that – if it’s up to me – you can’t say ‘no’ to.”
Whether Spurs is that fit remains to be seen, as is the case for if the club approach the Dutchman, but he has been backed to make an impact should he eventually head over.
“I think he is well-suited to the Premier League. I think he could do a job similar to what Roberto De Zerbi is doing at Brighton or Eddie Howe is doing at Newcastle,” Bell adds.
“I think it all depends on whether a club comes that can convince him not to go into the Champions League with Feyenoord next season. I don’t think that would be Leeds and I’m sure he would have reservations about Spurs, but he would certainly bring some entertainment back to Tottenham if they approached him.”
Mourinho: He disrespected us
Earlier this month Slot was embroiled in a tunnel row with former Spurs boss Jose Mourinho during Feyenoord’s Europa League quarter-final against Roma.
Before the match, which Roma won 4-1, Slot had said Mourinho’s “style of football achieves results, but I prefer to watch Manchester City and Napoli. I’m very honest on that”.
In response, Mourinho shouted “respect” and “go watch Napoli” inside the Stadio Olimpico tunnel, according to Sky Sport Italia, with the result ensuring Roma progressed 4-2 on aggregate.
“We faced a quality opponent with an excellent coach,” Mourinho added to Roma TV, “even if he disrespected us long enough.”
A warning sign, then, for Spurs? That this brand of football fell short against Mourinho, who so dulled the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium crowd? Perhaps, but crying out for entertainment, should Naglesmann turn them down, he could be the perfect fit – or, it should really be, Slot right in.
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