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Mauricio Pochettino sacked: Jose Mourinho open to becoming next Tottenham manager

Intermediaries have been scouting potential replacements during the past week

Miguel Delaney
Chief Football Writer
Tuesday 19 November 2019 23:39 GMT
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Jose Mourinho is now favourite to take over
Jose Mourinho is now favourite to take over

Jose Mourinho is open to taking the Tottenham Hotspur job, and there is a growing feeling he could fit the club’s circumstances at this time, after the sensational Tuesday sacking of Mauricio Pochettino.

The Independent has been told intermediaries were already sounding out potential candidates for Spurs in the previous week, with Red Bull Leipzig’s Julian Nagelsmann the top choice due to his age and profile. With the German extremely difficult to secure due to his contract, however, chairman Daniel Levy and the hierarchy have been looking at five other names.

Brendan Rodgers is seen in a similar way to Nagelsmann but would be equally difficult to get now given how he’s just joined a buoyant Leicester City.

Napoli’s Carlo Ancelotti is being pushed on the club, and is interested. His compatriot Max Allegri is more appealing to Spurs, but there is a feeling he is cooler on the job, and would prefer a club of higher historic profile and wealth like Manchester United. Tottenham have long liked Eddie Howe, but other candidates have now leapfrogged him, and there is also the problem of extracting him from Bournemouth.

Given all that, as well as his availability and status, Mourinho may well represent a suitable choice for this moment in time. It is understood figures close to the Portuguese were trying to make a potential deal happen on Tuesday night.

Levy sees a significant attraction in Mourinho’s star power, to continue to boost the international profile of Spurs, especially so soon after a first-ever Champions League final.

Levy, who appointed Pochettino back in June 2014, admitted the decision to sack him was a difficult one.

“We were extremely reluctant to make this change and it is not a decision the board have taken lightly, nor in haste,” he said in a statement.

“Regrettably domestic results at the end of last season and the beginning of this season have been extremely disappointing.

“It falls on the board to make the difficult decisions – this one made more so given the many memorable moments we have had with Mauricio and his coaching staff – but we do so in the club’s best interests.”

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