Tottenham Hotspur are searching for a new manager to replace Thomas Frank - and Roberto De Zerbi is among the favourites.
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Tottenham Hotspur find themselves at a crossroads once again following their decision to sack manager Thomas Frank after just eight months in the dugout.
Frank signed a three-year contract with the North London club to end a seven-year association with Brentford where had led the club to the top-flight for the first time since 1935 while consolidating the Bees’ position as a competitive outfit.
Many saw him as the ideal successor to Ange Postecoglou after a difficult season which saw the club finish thrive on the continent by winning the Europa League while plummeting to 17th position in the league. However, Frank was unable to get Spurs anywhere near the race for European qualification, and left with the club in 16th position and just five points above the drop zone.
Tottenham despite progressing to the round-of-16 in the Champions League are in serious danger of being one of the biggest shock relegations in English football history if things don’t improve quickly. And they are going to have to find a route out of danger with a limited number of players at their disposal due a growing injury list. But who can they appoint to turn their fortunes around?
Why Tottenham should resist the temptation to appoint Roberto De Zerbi
Former Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi resigned from his role as manager of Marseille just hours before Frank’s dismissal was confirmed, leading to immediate speculation linking him with the Tottenham job.
The well-travelled Italian has already taken charge of eight different clubs in his managerial career, but is perhaps best known for his work at Brighton where he helped the Seagulls finish sixth in 2022/23, marking the side’s highest ever top-flight finish.
In his first full season, he also led the club to the knockout stages of the Europa League, but failed to build on his initial success as the club dropped to 11th. He joined Marseille in 2024 and enjoyed a strong first season by leading the club to second and a return to the Champions League. However, he’s struggled to replicate those standards this term despite an impressive start to the season, with the club failing to qualify for the Champions League play-offs while dipping to fourth in the table.
De Zerbi has a good enough CV to secure a return to the Premier League, but whether he’d be the right for for Tottenham is a different argument entirely. For example throughout his managerial career, he’s often gone public about his dissatisfaction with the hierarchy. At Brighton he was critical of the club’s recruitment strategy and their philosophy of buying young prospects and selling them on for a profit in their mid-20s, something which chairman Tony Bloom didn’t like being played out in public.
While at Marseille, he threatened to walk on several occasions, and according to The Athletic in a heated row with his players told them: ‘You have no balls, you humiliated me tonight, you humiliated your club’.”
De Zerbi is a talented manager and a great tactician but perhaps not the man that Tottenham need in a difficult moment, particularly with his history of speaking out against the board which never helped the likes of Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte in the past.
Mauricio Pochettino would be the ideal candidate for Tottenham
According to Miguel Delaney, Maurico Pochettino is the Tottenham board’s ideal candidate for the position.
The Argentine is the club’s most successful manager of the Premier League era and the last person to win universal support from every section of the Spurs fanbase. He spent five years at the club from 2014 to 2019 and is credited with leading them into the Champions League in four of his five full seasons in the dugout. Pochettino developed the likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen and Jan Vertonghen among others, turning them into superstars over the course of half a decade.
He helped Spurs record their best ever points tally in a top-flight season in 2016/17, finishing second overall in the table while boasting both the most goals scored and the best defensive record. He finished the entirety of the final season at White Hart Lane - marking the club’s first unbeaten home record since 1965 - a stark contrast to where the club are currently at.
Pochettino regularly exceeded expectations while playing a front-foot, high-pressing, energetic brand of football which was both hugely entertaining and effective defensively. He even reached the Champions League final in his last campaign for the only time in the club’s history.
Bringing in the Argentine in the summer would provide a huge lift for supporters of the football club and potentially get the team moving in the right direction.
There’s a strong chance that he’ll be available after the World Cup this summer. However, his commitments to the USA mean in the interim the club may need to find a suitable short-term option to keep the team in the league and give the Argentine a platform to move forward.