Mauricio Pochettino, Roberto De Zerbi and Andoni Iraola are among the options being considered by Tottenham Hotspur after the club sacked Thomas Frank as head coach.
Tottenham are weighing up whether to install an interim coach until the end of the season or to make a permanent appointment, with the club only five points above the Premier League relegation zone.
That decision will be influenced by the availability of the main candidates on Tottenham’s shortlist, which is believed to include Pochettino, De Zerbi and Iraola. The Spurs chief executive, Vinai Venkatesham, will lead the search for Frank’s successor.
The club would like to announce Frank’s replacement for the start of next week, when first-team players will be back in training before the game at home to Arsenal on February 22. Without an FA Cup fixture this weekend, Tottenham’s players have been given the rest of this week off, as previously planned.
Pochettino’s name was sung by some supporters during the defeat by Newcastle United on Tuesday night, which proved to be Frank’s final game after eight months in charge. Pochettino would love to return to Spurs but he is coach of the United States so a move would be difficult to engineer before the World Cup.
De Zerbi has just left Marseille and is keen to return to the Premier League after leaving Brighton & Hove Albion in 2024. Tottenham inquired about De Zerbi before appointing Frank last year, although the Italian was favoured by Fabio Paratici, who left his post as Spurs co-sporting director this month.
Iraola was also of interest to Tottenham last year and has impressed again this season with his work at Bournemouth. Iraola’s contract expires in the summer, when he is expected to attract interest from various teams, both in La Liga and the Premier League.
Keane is a contender to take over until the end of the season
ANNA GOWTHORPE/SHUTTERSTOCK
But Iraola does not want to leave mid-season while Bournemouth still hope to extend his deal.
A short-term appointment would be more risky, given Tottenham are dangerously close to the relegation zone.
John Heitinga, who took charge at the training ground on Tuesday, and Robbie Keane are both potential options.
Heitinga was brought in as an assistant in January and has twice been in charge at Ajax, first as an interim manager for the second half of the 2022-23 season and then as permanent head coach last summer. But that second spell at Ajax lasted only five months, before Heitinga was sacked in November.
Keane is in charge at Ferencvaros, who are top of the Hungarian league, but it is not known whether the former Tottenham striker would leave at this point or consider a short-term job in the Premier League. Asked last month if he was aware of links to Tottenham, Keane said: “I think it’s impossible to not be aware of anything these days, to be honest with you, especially when you have two kids who are Tottenham fans.
“But I’ll be honest with you, it goes over my head. I concentrate on what I’m doing. I think it’s nice that your name is there. Who puts it there? I have no clue, but it shows you that I’m doing OK to be even put there. I’m obviously aware of it, but I am happy here.”
Fans have even discussed a fairytale return for Harry Redknapp on a short-term basis, similar to how Martin O’Neill has steadied the ship back at Celtic.
“Would I fancy it? Of course I would do it, without any shadow of a doubt,” Redknapp told Sky Sports. “But I am a realist — I don’t live in cuckooland. It is very doubtful if I would get the job. But could I do the job? Yeah, of course I could do the job.”
Tim Sherwood, who took over from Andre Villas-Boas at Tottenham in 2013 , said he would also be interested but believes Heitinga will be asked to keep the seat warm for Pochettino. “I genuinely believe they’re going to give it to Jonny Heitinga, I think he’s a man who’s there already, he’s had experience as a manager,” Sherwood said. “Let’s face it, in the summer it will be Pochettino. It will be almost impossible for Tottenham to look beyond Mauricio Pochettino, with the clamour from the Tottenham supporters to bring the man back to the club.”
Spurs removed Frank after the 2-1 defeat by Newcastle left the team 16th in the Premier League table. Venkatesham recommended the decision to the club’s owners after the match, which was accepted.
Pochettino, who took Spurs to the 2019 Champions League final, had a strong bond with Tottenham fans
CHRIS BRUNSKILL/FANTASISTA/GETTY IMAGES
The Spurs hierarchy had been determined to give Frank time. Yet despite recognition of the mitigating factors, including a lengthy list of injuries and a lack of leadership in the squad, it was decided the team have just not showed enough progress on the pitch.
Tottenham finished fourth in the first phase of the Champions League under Frank and qualified directly for the round of 16. But their Premier League form has been dire, with the defeat by Newcastle meaning Spurs have won only twice in their past 17 Premier League games.
They also crashed out early in both domestic cups, losing to Newcastle in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup and Aston Villa in the third round of the FA Cup.
Only nine months ago, Tottenham fans were celebrating winning the Europa League and the club’s first trophy in 17 years. But Frank struggled to win over the Spurs supporters, who were never convinced by his cautious style of play or that Frank was the right fit for Tottenham.
The fans sang “you’re getting sacked in the morning” towards the end of the loss to Newcastle and the atmosphere at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has been toxic throughout the last few months. Fans targeted their frustration at some of the players, including Guglielmo Vicario, earlier in the season but their anger has been directed specifically at Frank in recent weeks.
Tottenham have also been hit by another serious injury after Wilson Odobert tore his anterior cruciate ligament against Newcastle. Odobert hobbled off in the 35th minute and is expected to be out for the rest of the season.