The Colorado Rapids are set to name Tottenham assistant Matt Wells their next head coach, sources briefed on the deal tell The Athletic.
It will be the first head-coaching role for the 37-year-old Wells, who is currently an assistant on Thomas Frank’s staff and previously worked for Spurs under Ange Postecoglou. He has also worked under Scott Parker at Fulham, Bournemouth and Club Brugge, racking up key first-team European experience at a young age for a coach. Tottenham declined to comment when reached by The Athletic.
Wells will be one of the youngest head coaches in MLS in 2026. Minnesota United’s Eric Ramsay, 34, is currently the youngest.
The Rapids, who narrowly missed the playoffs in 2025 under outgoing head coach Chris Armas, interviewed a number of candidates both domestic and abroad, but ultimately landed on Wells, who has been aligned with the Rapids’ early offseason moves. The club routinely works with the coaching staff on player recruitment to ensure total alignment.
The squad has some foundational pieces, led by U.S. international and club-record signing Paxten Aaronson. The 22-year-old joined the Rapids in a shock summer move from Eintracht Frankfurt, rejecting offers from RB Salzburg and Southampton, among other interested clubs.
Colorado also has English defender Rob Holding as well as a strong American contingent led by goalkeeper Zack Steffen, midfielder Cole Bassett, left back Sam Vines, defender Reggie Cannon and more.
Brazilian forward Rafael Navarro (27 goals, 10 assists over the last two seasons) currently leads the attack, but Colorado rejected lucrative transfer offers from Brazilian side Fluminense over the summer and he could still move this winter. If he goes, the club will be able to sign another designated player.
The Rapids turned to the Spurs side of the North London derby despite sharing the same ownership as Arsenal through Kroenke Sports & Entertainment. The club interviewed then-Arsenal assistant Jack Wilshere two years ago for its head coaching vacancy but has wound up with a Spurs assistant instead.
Who is Wells and what does this mean for Spurs?
Matt Wells’ potential departure from the Tottenham Hotspur coaching staff would be a significant moment, the first real change to the backroom team that Thomas Frank assembled when he was appointed as Spurs head coach six months ago.
Wells became one of Frank’s four First Team Assistant Coaches, along with Justin Cochrane, Andreas Georgson and Chris Haslam. He was the only member of Ange Postecoglou’s coaching staff who stayed on to work for Frank, a sign of how highly rated he is by the Premier League club.
During Postecoglou’s two years at Spurs, Wells took a prominent role on the training ground. In Postecoglou’s first season he was Assistant Coach, before becoming Senior Assistant Coach for the second season when Chris Davies left to manage Birmingham City. Postecoglou often took a hands-off approach to training, letting his coaches run the sessions, which meant that Wells would often have significant responsibility with the players. That season ended in triumph, with Tottenham lifting the Europa League trophy in Bilbao in May, something that Postecoglou and his staff will always be remembered for. Wells is very highly-rated within the game, with sources full of praise for his analytical eye and his inventive sessions.
Wells started out in the Tottenham academy as a youngster before becoming a coach in the academy, quickly rising to coach the Under-18s team. He then went on to be an assistant coach for Scott Parker, first at Fulham and Bournemouth, both of whom won promotion to the Premier League, and then in Belgium with Club Brugge. He returned to Tottenham in April 2023 to be assistant head coach when Ryan Mason took sole caretaker charge for the end of the 2022-23 season after the departure of Cristian Stellini. But many young coaches — Wells is 37 — ultimately want to become a head coach, and that is what the potential move to MLS represents.
Jack Pitt-Brooke