Mauricio Pochettino was fired by Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday in a shock move by Spurs chairman Daniel Levy.
Who’s next?
[ MORE: Pochettino paid the price for Levy’s mistakes ]
Spurs host West Ham United in a massive London derby this Saturday (Watch live, 7:30 a.m. ET on NBCSN and online via NBCSports.com) and it will be intriguing to see if the new man in charge will be in the dugout.
Tottenham must already have someone lined up, or at least someone in mind, to pull the plug on Pochettino after his five year spell in charge of the north London club totally transformed their fortunes.
Some huge managers are the early frontrunners for the now vacant position with Pochettino’s close friend, Jose Mourinho, the overwhelming favorite to take charge of Tottenham. Eddie Howe and Brendan Rodgers have both been linked with the position as they continue to work wonders at Bournemouth and Leicester City respectively, although it would be tough to imagine Rodgers would leave Leicester given their incredible start to the season. Wolves’ Nuno Espirito Santo is also a contender, but given the financial backing he has received he may stay at Molineux for the time being.
[ MORE: Social media reacts to Poch exit ]
Looking to Europe, Ajax coach Erik ten Hag is a name which keeps cropping up, while Max Allegri is out of work and he ran a tight ship at Juventus, plus he has not been hiding his desire to work in the Premier League. Julian Nagelsmann has only just taken charge of RB Leipzig so it would be strange for him to bail out on that new project, while Rafael Benitez could certainly be lured to return from the Chinese Super League but that would be a left-field choice.
All signs point to Mourinho or Allegri…
Below is a look at the current bookmakers favorites to replace Pochettino at Spurs, listed in the order of who is favorite.
- Jose Mourinho – Red-hot favorite. Knows how to win trophies and is the short-term solution. Is he the right man to take Spurs to the ‘next level’ whatever that is?
- Massimiliano Allegri – Did a wonderful job at both AC Milan and Juventus and is capable of building strong defensive teams which also have attacking flair. Currently out of work and is keen to work in England. If it’s not Mourinho, has to be him.
- Eddie Howe – Out of the contenders currently in the PL, Howe seems the most likely. He may have taken Bournemouth as far as he can and this would be a natural progression. Tough to see it happening though.
- Brendan Rodgers – If Leicester weren’t second in the PL table he’d be the leading contender. But with the Foxes flying, tough to see Rodgers leaving them on the cusp of a historic season.
- Erik Ten Hag – Has said he wants to stay at Ajax until the end of the current season and Bayern Munich are chasing him hard. An outsider.
- Julian Nagelsmann – As we mentioned, just arrived at RB Leipzig and the young coach is ambitious but seems keen to remain in Germany. For now.
- Rafael Benitez – This would make sense for a short-term appointment to steady the ship as Benitez has so much experience and he’s won trophies. Spurs would have to pay him a ton to leave China and this just doesn’t seem like the right time in his career or the right move for Spurs.
- Nuno Espirito Santo – An interesting outsider as Wolves have been superb over the past three seasons since he arrived in England. Like Pochettino when he arrived from Southampton, Santo is a manager on an upward curve. That worked out pretty well for Spurs last time…
