Alasdair Gold has told football.london that Ryan Mason is ‘the closest thing’ Tottenham Hotspur have to their own Mikel Arteta.
The Spurs correspondent spoke about Mason amid reports claiming the North Londoners had identified Vincent Kompany as their own Arteta.
Last week, The Sun reported that Spurs had made the ‘unbelievable‘ Burnley manager their No. 1 candidate.
And this week, the Daily Mail said there is growing support behind the scenes for Kompany to get the Tottenham job.
Those in favour of the Belgian’s appointment reportedly feel he could become their own Arteta.
The Arsenal job is the Spaniard’s first managerial role. Prior to getting the job, he was a coach at Manchester City.
Despite his lack of experience, Arteta has overhauled Arsenal and turned them into Premier League title contenders.
The Tottenham board members who support Kompany appointment feel he could potentially do the same at N17.
However, Gold reckons that Mason, more so than Kompany, is the closest thing Spurs could get to the Arsenal boss.
‘A former player who has only had assistant manager experience thus far’
Gold’s latest Q&A on football.london saw plenty of fans ask about the state of play of Spurs’ managerial search.
Macro Spurs asked Gold whether he felt Kompany would be tempted to take the job if offered to him.
“That’s a difficult one to answer without being inside his head,” replied Gold.
“Although I agree with you that there’s a number of top players who haven’t quite had the managerial success it looked like they would, Gerrard and Lampard being two obvious names.
“So yes, taking big opportunities when your stock is high is something that will cross managers’ minds.
“As I’ve said before, Spurs have certainly considered Vincent Kompany.
“He’s someone that Simon Davies, who works at the club’s head of coaching methodology, knows well from their time together at City and Anderlecht, and he would be pushing the merits of him.
“It would also be a gamble, with the 37-year-old having not managed in a major top flight division yet.
“He may well want to see what he can do with Burnley next season in the Premier League and watching clubs might want to wait to see how he does first. Of course you could miss out via that route.
“I would say the closest thing Spurs have to Arteta is probably Ryan Mason, if you’re looking at a young former player who has only had assistant manager experience thus far (other than those seven matches in charge in 2021).”
‘It’s all about the money now’
Gold has made a great point. Mason currently has about as much experience as Arteta did when he joined Arsenal.
While Arteta learned from Pep Guardiola, Mason has learned from equally amazing managers like Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte.
At the same time, you can imagine that, even though Mason is loved by everyone at Tottenham, the prospect of making him permanent manager would be a hard sell.
Arsenal struggled for several years while Arteta found his feet and built his squad up properly – not to mention clearing deadwood – and the board held firm in the face of so much criticism.
Can Tottenham afford several years in the wilderness, out of Europe, and potential fan unrest while Mason can really make his mark on the club?
According to Gold, no.
In the same Q&A, he said: “Unfortunately it’s all about the money now and Spurs need every bit of it if they’re going to take on the clubs with bottomless cash reserves.
“Also, having Champions League football (on paper) helps you attract better players and managers.
“I’d also hope Spurs play a lot better next season than they do this season. Hope of course is a dangerous thing.”
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