Tottenham are exploring their options after sacking Thomas Frank on Wednesday morning, with Roberto De Zerbi and one of their current coaches, John Heitinga, in the conversation.
It is unclear whether the chief executive, Vinai Venkatesham, and the sporting director, Johan Lange, who are overseeing the process, will favour an interim choice which could be Heitinga. If they did, it would buy them time until the summer when other candidates could be available, including Mauricio Pochettino and Andoni Iraola.
Spurs supporters sang Pochettino’s name during Tuesday’s 2-1 home defeat against Newcastle, which was Frank’s final game in charge. They made it clear that they would welcome back the manager under whom they enjoyed such good times for five-and-a-bit seasons from 2014.
Pochettino is the United States manager and is preparing for the World Cup this summer. There is no chance of him walking away from his responsibilities but he will be out of contract after the tournament – as will Iraola at Bournemouth. Spurs looked at Iraola before they appointed Frank last summer only for him to make it clear he was committed to Bournemouth.
De Zerbi has left Marseille, the French club confirming his departure just before the news of Frank’s Spurs exit broke. His team were hammered 5-0 by Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday after which he was moved to apologise to the fans. De Zerbi has Premier League experience from a successful period at Brighton, plays an open and attacking style and feels like an opportunity for Spurs.
The club are monitoring their former striker Robbie Keane, who has impressed at Ferencvaros in Hungary. He won the league title last season after joining midway through the campaign. His team are joint-top this time out. In 2023-24, Keane led Maccabi Tel Aviv to the Israeli Premier League title.
Heitinga was brought to Spurs in January to assist Frank, ostensibly to replace Matt Wells, who had left to become the head coach of Colorado Rapids. Heitinga, who was an assistant to Arne Slot at Liverpool last season, helping them to win the title, was sacked as Ajax manager in November.
On Wednesday morning the club released a statement announcing Frank’s departure, eight months into a three-year contract with the team on a run of two victories in 17 in the Premier League.
“We have been determined to give him the time and support needed to build for the future together,” it read. “However, results and performances have led the board to conclude that a change at this point in the season is necessary.”
Spurs have given their players five days off to reset after the Newcastle match and prepare for the next one, which is the home derby against Arsenal on Sunday week. As such, the club have some time to finalise the move for the new coach and decide which of Frank’s staff to retain.
When Frank left Brentford for Spurs, he brought the assistant coach Justin Cochrane, the head of performance Chris Haslam, and the analyst, Joe Newton with him. Close to the start of the season, Nick Stubbings joined from Brentford to be the head of medical while Tom Perryman crossed over as a strength and conditioning coach. In December, yet another Brentford staff member, Ted Munson, went to Spurs to become the head of nutrition.
Spurs have suffered yet another long-term injury blow with the winger Wilson Odobert revealed to have badly damaged his ACL against Newcastle. The club have 10 others out through injury while the captain, Cristian Romero, is suspended for a further three games. – Guardian