Leeds United like Arne Slot but the Feyenoord manager will probably be tempted by the chance to take over Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur instead.
That is according to Valentijn Driessen, one of Dutch football’s most respected reporters and a man who has seen 44-year-old Slot go from strength to strength in the Eredivisie. The COVID-19 cancellation prevented his AZ Alkmaar side from snatching Ajax’s crown but, three years later, Slot could be about to get his mitts on the domestic game’s biggest prize at last.
Feyenoord’s 3-2 Der Klassiker victory over Ajax before the March international break – the latest in a long line of late goals securing the most dramatic of triumphs – extended the gap at the top of the Eredivisie table to six points with eight games remaining.
Slot reportedly turned down Leeds United back in February following the departure of Jesse Marsch; the chance to guide Feyenoord to only their second league title in the 21st century an opportunity one of Europe’s most underrated tacticians was not going to turn his back on.
But Tottenham, Driessen says, is an altogether different kettle of fish.
Will Tottenham snatch Leeds’ manager target Arne Slot?
“I think (Antonio) Conte’s dismissal is very good news for Arne Slot,” Driessen tells De Telegraaf; backing up claims from The Times suggesting that the De Kuip boss has joined Julian Nagelsmann, Roberto de Zerbi, Ruben Amorim and co on a list of potential replacements.
“I know he is on a list at Tottenham. He first wants to become champion with Feyenoord and go far in the Europa League. But he is definitely on it the list.
“That would be a great challenge for him. I think he is open to it, because he was also open to Leeds United. If Tottenham want him, they can get him. They pay so much money.
“It’s nice that they’ve never won anything, because then you can be the first to win something.”
Slot’s free-flowing attacking football would represent a welcome change from the tedium of the Conte era. His Feyenoord side hammered Shakhtar Donetsk 7-1 in the Europa League knock-out stages recently,
Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Feyenoord’s Iranian winger, even describes Slot as ‘the best coach in the world at the moment’.
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