LONDON (REUTERS) – Tottenham Hotspur ended their long search for a new manager by naming Nuno Espirito Santo in the role on Wednesday (June 30) after the Portuguese left Wolverhampton Wanderers at the end of last season.
Nuno left Wolves after four seasons where they achieved promotion to the Premier League in 2018 after a six-year absence and retained their status as a top flight side over three seasons. He previously also managed Valencia and Porto.
“When you have a squad with quality and talent, we want to make the fans proud and enjoy,” he said in a statement on the club website.
“It’s an enormous pleasure and honour (to be here), there’s joy and I’m happy and looking forward to starting work. We don’t have any days to lose and we must start working immediately as pre-season starts in a few days.”
Spurs were linked with a series of managers since sacking Jose Mourinho in April – six days before their League Cup final defeat by Manchester City – with Ryan Mason put in interim charge until the end of the season.
Their list of candidates included Portugal’s Paulo Fonseca, who last managed AS Roma, former Inter Milan boss Antonio Conte and ex-Napoli manager Gennaro Gattuso.
Spurs’ former boss Mauricio Pochettino was also in the frame but the Argentine, who took over Paris St Germain in January, said last month that he was looking forward to building on what he had achieved with the French club in half a season.
Former Germany and United States coach Juergen Klinsmann also said he was interested in the vacant managerial position and had even called club chairman Daniel Levy after Mourinho was sacked.
Mourinho, a former Chelsea and Manchester United boss, was criticised by fans for playing uninspiring football which saw the London side fall from the top of the standings to seventh while they were also knocked out of the Europa League.
Nuno’s appointment comes after Tottenham hired Fabio Paratici as their new director of football earlier this month. The 48-year-old was previously the chief football officer at Juventus for 11 years.
“First of all, I’d like to welcome Nuno to the club. We should like to thank our supporters for all their patience throughout this process,” Levy said.
“I’ve spoken already about the need to revert back to our core DNA of playing attacking, entertaining football.
“Fabio and I believe Nuno is the man who can take our talented group of players, embrace our young players coming through and build something special.”
Tottenham begin their new league campaign at home to champions Manchester City on Aug 15.