Tottenham Hotspur were widely considered to have sealed a ‘massive coup’ in appointing Antonio Conte as the successor to Nuno Espirito Santo but things could have taken a very different path…
How close was Paulo Fonseca to the Spurs job?
Among the candidates to get the job before the Portuguese was appointed was Paulo Fonseca and according to the 49-year-old himself, Spurs had agreed to hire him before new sporting director Fabio Paratici pulled the plug as one of his first pieces of business at the club.
“The agreement was done. We were planning the pre-season and Tottenham wanted an offensive coach. It wasn’t announced but we planned pre-season players,” he told The Telegraph.
“But things changed when the new managing director arrived and we didn’t agree with some ideas and he preferred another coach.”
The Lilywhites’ managerial saga would rumble on before finally settling on Nuno, who was a free agent after departing Wolverhampton Wanderers at the end of the season.
He would then only last 17 matches before the Italian arrived.
How is Fonseca doing at Lille?
But has Paratici blundered in not giving Fonseca a chance?
The Portuguese, who previously managed AS Roma and Shakhtar Donetsk, has done a great job at Ligue 1 outfit Lille, who hired him in June.
Whilst they sit sixth in the standings, Fonseca has won over half of his 27 matches in charge, playing a brand of football that is certainly appealing, with CBS Sports pundit Thierry Henry the latest name to wax lyrical.
“What the coach is doing is extraordinary, once again,” he said (via Tuttomercatoweb).
“This four-man defence, which turns into a three-man defence. Timothy Weah gives width on the left side, [and] Bamba on the right. They play, they press, [and] they score, but on the other side there were monsters. When the monsters wake up, it’s a little harder.”
Under Fonseca, Les Dogues average of 1.89 goals scored per game and those are far more lucrative attacking returns than what Conte is managing with players like Heung-min Son, Harry Kane and Dejan Kulusevski at his disposal.
The 2021 champions have even gone toe-to-toe with Paris Saint-Germain, who have a front three of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar, in recent outings, having lost 4-3.
Supporters around N17 have grown tired of Conte’s defensively-minded tactics and system, particularly as they are still conceding plenty of goals most weeks, so they would have surely welcomed a progressive, exciting style – one that Fonseca would’ve brought to the club.
As such, Paratici’s decision to snub the 49-year-old is looking worse and worse by the month, even more so with Conte likely to leave north London in the summer.
AND in other news, Spurs in race to sign £118k-p/w “special talent”, it’s bye-bye “nightmare” Pochettino flop…