Paulo Fonseca has been offered to Tottenham Hotspur, according to emerging reports…
What’s the word?
As per Sportitalia TV’s Gianluigi Longari, the Portuguese coach was proposed to Spurs by his representatives last week and the North London outfit are considering him as a potential candidate for their vacant managerial role.
It’s thought that the 48-year-old, who has been replaced at AS Roma by Jose Mourinho, is seen as a cheaper alternative to Antonio Conte due to his sustainable business in the transfer market.
This would back up recent claims from Football Insider, who have reported that a “low maintenance” manager who would be available for “cheap or zero compensation” is what Daniel Levy is looking for.
Playing with fire
It’s crucial for the Lilywhites chairman to get this next appointment absolutely spot on, otherwise, he risks an absolute disaster at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Several members of the club’s fanbase have protested against Levy, as well as the ownership group ENIC, since news of a European Super League first broke in mid-April.
Supporters have remained angry by these collapsed plans but in reality, it has been the culmination of many years of underachievement and a lack of ambition bubbling beneath the surface that triggered such a reaction.
Spurs have not won a trophy since 2008, losing many a final since and you could argue that they have not been good enough in the transfer market either.
One example is their failed move for Paulo Dybala in 2019, perhaps the final piece of the puzzle for Mauricio Pochettino, whilst the Argentine also went 18 months without a signing, too.
[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-spurs-news-manager-gossip-transfer-rumours-team-and-injury-updates-and-more” title= “Read the latest Spurs news, manager gossip, transfer rumours, team and injury updates and more!”]
It does beg the question – just why would he want to return? Both The Athletic and football.london claim he’s keen to swap the French capital for North London, just 18 months after being sacked by Levy.
However, it’s thought that PSG have extended his £6.5m-per-year deal until 2023, meaning the Premier League side would have to fork out an extortionate amount to release him from that contract.
Something that The Sun claim the club were unwilling to do for Brendan Rodgers at Leicester City.
It only adds further weight to the argument that a manager like Fonseca would be the easy and cheap alternative, and that will not go down well with the Hotspur faithful based on their recent protests.
The Portuguese coach once wowed Man City boss Pep Guardiola during his time at Shakhtar Donetsk, with the Premier League winner telling reporters:
“Before every game against Shakhtar, I have the same feeling. The first time we face them in the group stage, my [scouting] team went to see them and they came back saying, ‘Wow.’ They were really impressed. In Barcelona all the time it was, ‘Shakhtar, Ukraine, who cares which players play, nobody knows them.’”
Similarly, Fonseca has been lauded as an “exceptional” and “talented” manager by Portuguese journalist Alex Goncalves.
However, Serie A is not the Ukrainian top-flight, as he soon found out at the Stadio Olimpico, where he failed to achieve above a fifth-place finish and in Europe, they faltered immensely.
The Premier League is arguably a tougher and much better league than the Serie A, too, so there’s nothing to suggest he would be able to turn around his fortunes overnight, especially if he’s been unable to do it in Italy.
He just seems like the cheap option here and if Levy is to win back his baying fanbase, then he must look elsewhere.
The Spurs chairman could well be on the verge of making his biggest mistake since sacking Pochettino in the first place by appointing a man who’s going to save them money, rather than the one that seems right to take them forward.
AND in other news, Spurs could now turn to 54 y/o gem who destroyed Pochettino this season…