If you’re a bookmaker and you learn that Gennaro Gattuso has joined Antonio Conte and Paulo Fonseca as coaches no longer involved in discussions to become Tottenham Hotspur boss, do you just add the rest of Serie A’s managers?
Gattuso will not become Tottenham’s top dog, according to Sky Sports, but this one’s due to Ringhio’s past comments against same-sex marriage and the role of women in football years ago.
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What does this mean for Spurs’ manager search? And what about the open Everton job, as two would-be European contenders wait to fill out their transfer needs.
One funny thing, to be sure, is how many names on one club’s list could seamlessly slide into the manager’s chair for the other club.
Tottenham manager update
Reports of Gattuso’s arrival were met with disappointment from many and a hashtag against the hire was launched on social media, and Spurs were forced to change course. The Premier League’s emphasis on inclusivity with a focus on the LGBTQ+ community did not fit with his 2008 comments, for example, that churches should not be required to hold same-sex marriages.
But new Spurs sporting director Fabio Paratici has now seen three high-profile moves fail to come to fruition, and the Gattuso swing carries a new level of embarrassment if reports that Fonseca had been in negotiations with Tottenham for nearly a week before the club pulled the plug in favor the idea of Gattuso.
If Spurs’ weird managerial moves didn’t begin with the hiring of Jose Mourinho, it certainly started when the club fired the trophy-hunter a week before the League Cup final (Tottenham was idea-less against champions Man City).
And now? Well…. in addition to Conte, Fonseca, and Gattuso, the club was unable to lure Mauricio Pochettino back from PSG while Brendan Rodgers and Julian Nagelsmann were linked but never seemed realistic.
Plus there are some other names who might be a fit for Spurs If they don’t land at Everton.
Everton manager update
Sky Sports also says that Rafa Benitez is still the favorite to take over the Merseyside derby rivals of the club he led to the Champions League.
Everton is looking to the former Liverpool man to take the reins at Goodison Park following the departure of a fellow ex-Real Madrid boss in Carlo Ancelotti this summer.
Benitez’s appointment would be a surprise, to be sure, but only because of his history. He still lives Merseyside and has taken jobs at Newcastle and Shanghai Shenhua.
Nuno Espirito Santo is also often mentioned as a candidate, having left Wolves this year, while ex-Toffees man Roberto Martinez is mentioned along with Eddie Howe, Christoph Galtier, and Duncan Ferguson.
Yes, the same Roberto Martinez who is leading a Golden Generation of the Belgium national team and was canned by Everton despite boasting the best win percentage for a manager at the club since Howard Kendall (until Ancelotti).
If it is to be Martinez, it’s going to be a longer wait given Belgium looks pretty good in its quest to win EURO 2020.
All of the names make some sense, although Galtier has not managed in England, Howe lost his magic toward the end at Bournemouth, and Ferguson is a club legend but has not managed a senior team other than his interim run at Goodison Park following the firing of Marco Silva.
