Tottenham could be in the market for a new manager this summer, as Ange Postecoglou's job is on the line with the Europa League Final coming up on May 21 against Manchester United. It stands to reason that with Spurs sitting 17th in the Premier League, Postecoglou is out if the club can't salvage Champions League football and bring in this major trophy.
In that case, Tottenham have been creating a shortlist of managers to replace Postecoglou, and it appears that Chairman Daniel Levy is most interested in hiring a coach with an established Premier League track record. The main candidates are Fulham's Marco Silva, Bournemouth's Andoni Iraola, and Brentford's Thomas Frank - all three have been outperforming Spurs with smaller clubs.
Out of all of these managers, Silva is apparently the favorite to take over for Postecoglou at this point in time, but even Silva isn't without serious competition for Spurs.
Tottenham could lose out to the Saudi Pro League
According to a report from Football Insider's Pete O'Rourke, Silva is interested in a move to the Saudi Pro League, and league giants Al-Hilal are most prominently interested in bringing in the Fulham coach. Al-Hilal would reportedly like to hire Silva in advance of the Club World Cup on June 14, and that timeline puts additional pressure on Tottenham.
If Silva chooses to coach in Saudi Arabia over Tottenham and picks Al-Hilal over similar interest from Spurs, that would be another ego blow to Levy and the club. Because what would it say about Tottenham that a manager would rather compete in Saudi Arabia than at a top Premier League club like Tottenham? It would say that Spurs, who would almost assuredly not be in the Champions League at the point of going after Silva to replace Postecoglou, are seen as second-rate by Silva.
That's a lot of conjecture at this point since nothing has happened, and there are probably a good amount of Tottenham supporters who would be ultimately happy that Spurs don't sign Silva. But from the perspective of perception, it's not a good look if Silva chooses the Saudi Pro League over Tottenham, and the fact that he's strongly entertaining a move to Saudi is a sign that maybe he isn't too thrilled with the Tottenham job.
And with how badly Levy has treated this club and how little he has backed most of the managers there, including some of world football's biggest names, it wouldn't be a surprise nor undeserved for an up-and-coming coach to snub Tottenham in this way. However, it wouldn't lessen the sting at all.