Everyone knew when Tottenham Hotspur appointed former Marseille and Juventus manager Igor Tudor to replace Thomas Frank that the Italian coach would be nothing more than an emergency stop gap option, hired to help Spurs survive an impending relegation battle. Well, that fight has indeed come, and it is even more to the wire than anyone expected, with Spurs reaching a new low over the weekend after a 3-0 blowout loss to Nottingham Forest.
Now, Tottenham are increasingly turning to another former Marseille manager, Roberto De Zerbi, as their top option. According to a report from Tom Allnutt of The Times, Tottenham have revisited the idea of hiring De Zerbi, who was loosely linked to the club in January ahead of the Tudor hire a month later. The idea could be to hire De Zerbi permanently now but add a release clause in his contract in case Spurs were to be relegated and RDZ wanted to coach in the top flight elsewhere instead of remaining at the N17.
Tottenham Hotspur are still reportedly weighing the merits of hiring De Zerbi now for Tudor or waiting until after the dust settles and Spurs learn their fate when the season ends, but fans are increasingly out on Tudor after watching Spurs get blown apart 3-0 by Vitor Pereira's Forest over the weekend in a relegation six pointer.
Roberto De Zerbi is the club's top choice but not the fans'
The thing is, Roberto De Zerbi is far from the No. 1 choice for most Spurs supporters. Many have their hearts dead set on Mauricio Pochettino, a managerial icon for the club whose firing more than five years ago looks more and more like a deadly mistake as time has gone on. Since Poch, no manager has competently led Spurs, though Ange Postecoglou did at least bring home the Europa League title.
De Zerbi is lauded by tacticos on the Internet, but he's had pretty quick falling outs with every single club he has coached. He is a tactical genius who is also a hot head, and his recruitment of players with serious legal issues like Mason Greenwood has blighted his reign at Marseille, which hasn't been particilularly revolutionary on the pitch either.
Tottenham fans will bristle at the idea of De Zerbi coming in to Spurs, though the club may not have more proven options who would be willing to join them. But for Spurs, it appears De Zerbi is their top option. They were linked to him in January, they are linked to him now, and they are even kicking around the idea of letting him leave with a clause if they relegated just to get him in the door now. That speaks volumes to how they view him, and it doesn't sound like they are seriously looking at any other long term options yet.