Tottenham have approached a highly-rated manager to replace Igor Tudor 'this week', with the tactician responding to Spurs' interest.
Tottenham eye up a host of managers to replace Igor Tudor
The week that began with Tottenham in the grip of a full-blown managerial crisis ends, somehow, with even more chaos.
As the international break provides a brief pause in the Premier League action, ENIC have reportedly been burning through phone lines and burning through patience in equal measure, and the picture emerging from Spurs' frantic search for Tudor's replacement is one of rejected approaches, blocked routes and very few straightforward answers.
It started promisingly enough — on the surface at least.
Adi Hutter's name dominated the early part of the week, with the French newspaper L'Equipe confirming the Austrian had been contacted and discussions had begun.
TEAMtalk backed that up, though Sky Germany threw cold water on the idea of concrete progress, insisting no formal talks had yet taken place.
Hutter, 56, out of work since leaving Monaco in October, has been seen as a credible short-term option — but his lack of Premier League experience has done nothing to soothe concerns about whether he represents genuine progress.
Fabrizio Romano spent much of the week threading the needle on a far more significant name.
Roberto De Zerbi, the Italian who transformed Brighton into a top-six force and guided Marseille to second in Ligue 1, remains Spurs' primary long-term target.
The 46-year-old has just one trophy on his CV - a Ukrainian Super Cup win from his time at Shakhtar Donetsk - yet Pep Guardiola has called him one of the most 'influential managers of the last 20 years'.
Romano confirmed as much publicly — De Zerbi is the "favourite candidate from June," open to discussing the role in the summer provided Spurs survive.
He also tantalised with a single line that kept the door ever so slightly ajar, simply stating: "Let's see if Tottenham decide to make one more attempt for De Zerbi now."
They apparently did, but TEAMtalk claim that it has come to nothing.
Roberto De Zerbi says no to Tottenham after fresh approach 'this week'
Indeed, Tottenham made a fresh approach to De Zerbi this week and received a "not now" response for their troubles.
It is the latest in a consistent pattern stretching back weeks in which the former Brighton and Marseille boss has declined every opening to commit to an immediate return to management.
Sky Italy and Gianluca Di Marzio had already made his position clear: De Zerbi has no intention of going back into the dugout before the summer, regardless of which club is asking.
His departure from Marseille in February following a 5-0 thrashing by PSG was not long ago, and he is determined to step back, assess his options and return at a time of his own choosing.
It is not a specific rejection of Tottenham.
The Italian would consider Spurs in the summer and is open to talks — the project, the squad, the stadium all have their appeal. But a relegation-threatened mid-season rescue mission is not what he has in mind, and no amount of persistence from north London has yet shifted that position.
Whether another attempt might eventually change his mind remains, technically, an open question.
With the Sunderland game on April 12 approaching and Tudor's future still unresolved, Tottenham are fast running out of time to keep gambling on the answer changing.