Tottenham Hotspur are hoping to appoint Thomas Frank, however, there is a possible stumbling block which has previously cost them Arne Slot.
Thomas Frank has spoken to Tottenham about replacing Ange Postecoglou following his sacking just over two weeks on from the Europa League final win in Bilbao.
The North London club have made the Danish coach the frontrunner for the job at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and discussions are ongoing.
However, there remains a rather large barrier in the way of the deal and Tottenham Hotspur cannot afford a repeat of the situation which saw them miss out on Arne Slot.
Tottenham must pay £10m for Thomas Frank, no Brentford approach made yet
As TBR Football revealed back in January, Frank has a £9m plus release clause which Spurs would have to pay if they want to land the Brentford boss.
Despite holding talks with the 51-year-old over a move across the capital, Brentford are yet to receive an approach from the North London club, according to Tom Barclay.
It remains to be seen whether Daniel Levy would be willing to pay such a fee to land Frank or if Tottenham are to start searching for alternatives.
Paying release clauses for a manager is somewhat rare in football, especially compared to the transfer of players.
Julian Nagelsmann’s move from RB Leipzig to Bayern Munich was the most expensive manager transfer of all time, costing the German giants £21.7m. Chelsea paid the second-highest fee to appoint Graham Potter for £21.5m.
Tottenham would therefore need to make Frank one of the most expensive managerial transfers of all time to bring him in to replace Postecoglou.
Tottenham cannot repeat their Arne Slot mistake
Tottenham might need to just bite the bullet with Frank and pay up, with the same mistake costing them the chance to appoint Slot, who is, of course, now at Liverpool.
Before appointing Postecoglou, Tottenham wanted the Dutch manager from Feyenoord, however, they opted against paying his release clause.
Tottenham didn’t want to pay £10m for Slot despite him being the manager they wanted, and that now looks like a foolish decision. Instead, one year on and Liverpool paid £9.2m to get Slot.
Frank appears to be the chosen one at Tottenham, and this is a deal they cannot afford to mess up or delay.