In the immediate aftermath of firing Ange Postecoglou on Friday night, Tottenham Hotspur were already significantly linked to Brentford manager Thomas Frank, who was shooting up lists of manager targets in the weeks before the 2024/25 Premier League season ended.
At this point, it would be an upset if Frank didn't become the next Tottenham manager, and he's perhaps the only credible option who could conceivably prove to be an upgrade over Postecoglou, given his tactical body of work at Brentford over the last couple of seasons.
But Frank isn't the only high-profile manager Tottenham have approached in the days around their decision to fire Postecoglou. According to a report from Fabrizio Romano, before reaching advanced negotiations with Frank, Spurs actually made an approach to hire Marseille's Roberto De Zerbi, formerly of Brighton, but the manager rejected Tottenham outright in order to stay at OM.
It's not the first time within the last week that Tottenham came away with egg on their face after being rejected in favor of Marseille, as former England national team midfielder Angel Gomes decided to spurn Spurs in favor of a free transfer within Ligue 1 from Lille to Marseille. Given Tottenham are one of the biggest clubs in the world, play in London, and just won the Europa League title, Gomes rejecting them in favor of a transfer to a topsy-turvy club competing for no real silverware was a bit of a slap in the face for Tottenham.
Daniel Levy keeps making Tottenham look like a joke
Getting snubbed by both Gomes and De Zerbi makes Tottenham look like an absolute joke. De Zerbi's biggest job of his career was at Brighton, and he managed to alienate people there, which is a common theme in his career, before bolting to Marseille, where he's been bent on assembling a squad of hooligans and miscreants like Mason Greenwood and Elye Wahi, among others with serious allegations or charges.
For Tottenham fans, getting rejected by De Zerbi is, therefore, a very good thing, considering no reasonable fan wants a manager - who, by the way, already flamed out at a mid-table club in the Premier League - with that kind of "eye for talent" running the show, especially not after firing a high-character coach like Postecoglou.
However, it's the mere fact that Daniel Levy and Tottenham even approached De Zerbi, ostensibly before they officially canned Big Ange, that is so irksome to Spurs supporters. De Zerbi is the exact opposite of Postecoglou, and for as brilliant as he may be tactically, he's nowhere near brilliant enough to make up for all the red flags about him. Spurs considering that switch - and then getting rejected in favor of OM - is yet another low in a situation that has been a trip down to the Mariana Trench.