According to multiple reports, former Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann is out of the running in the manager search at Tottenham Hotspur. Nagelsmann is no longer likely to end up in England, with the Chelsea job going to Mauricio Pochettino.
From the Evening Standard:
But while Spurs respect Nagelsmann, they do not consider him a good fit at this moment and the club has insisted they have not held talks with the 35-year-old and do not intend to.
This isn’t the first time Nagelsmann has been linked to Tottenham — he was reportedly among those approached to succeed José Mourinho. The biggest remaining club Nagelsmann has been linked to is Real Madrid, where Carlo Ancelotti is still guiding another thundering Champions League campaign.
This isn’t Spurs’ first brush with a coaching carousel, either. When Spurs sacked Pochettino, Levy quipped in their Amazon documentary that he had finally managed to bring in one of the two best coaches in the world in Mourinho. However, Mourinho’s tenure was brief, sacked shortly before he had the chance to win his first trophy with the club, and the turbulence has not let up since then.
A lengthy search for a permanent manager seemed to land on Gennaro Gattuso, who left his post at Fiorentina after just 23 days. But fan furor scuttled Gattuso’s candidacy — and the chaos was just getting started. Paulo Fonseca was quickly tapped to move from AS Roma, and then that deal, too, fell apart — apparently due to a difference of sporting principles with Spurs’ new director of football Fabio Paratici.
Mourinho would land at Roma, and Nuno Espírito Santo at Tottenham from Wolverhampton. That appointment lasted less than half the season; Antonio Conte was hired in November of 2021, only to see his tenure end this March — some would say predictably — in flames.
Days after that, Paratici — who had just taken part in the club’s announcement video explaining Conte’s departure — was hit with a 30-month FIFA ban and within a month, he was out. Days after that, Daniel Levy sacked interim coach Cristian Stellini, who had been Conte’s number two, and resolved to finish the season with former player Ryan Mason. Mason had taken over the interim gig before, after Mourinho’s sacking, and — who knows? — just might end up with the permanent post.
Which brings us to present day. How things fell apart between Spurs and Nagelsmann, once rumored a frontrunner, is not clear, but obstacles persisted on both sides. Spurs would have likely owed Bayern a significant fee, perhaps in the £10m range, as Nagelsmann is technically still under contract at the Rekordmeister. And Nagelsmann has reportedly been wary of Spurs’ still-vacant director of football position.
It would have seemed a match made in heaven. Tottenham have (at least for now) Harry Kane, Son Heung-min, outstanding facilities, and financial resources. Nagelsmann is a young and attack-minded coach who may recall the excitement of the Pochettino era.
But perhaps this, too, was destiny. Levy is known for balking at high costs, and it wasn’t so long ago that he apparently tried to make manager and sporting director appointments that were not in harmony.
And so Nagelsmann’s future continues to be cloudy, while the storm-stricken Spurs continue their search for a steadying hand.