Tottenham Hotspur are still searching for a new manager, and it sounds like Jorge Mendes is having an increased influence at the club.
Jose Mourinho was sacked more than two months ago, and yet Tottenham still haven’t managed to find a replacement.
Finding a new boss is absolutely the priority for Tottenham, but fans would have every right to be concerned about the involvement of super-agent Mendes.
Mendes’ involvement at Tottenham
This has been bubbling away in recent weeks, with Mendes clients suddenly becoming hot favourites for Tottenham since Fabio Paratici’s appointment as director of football.
Recent Tottenham target Paulo Fonseca was a Gestifute client in the past, but Mendes got involved and tempted Paratici into going for Gennaro Gattuso instead – another of his Gestifute clients.
A deal for Gattuso was scrapped when Tottenham fans raged against the move, but it’s just another Mendes client being pushed now in Nuno Espirito Santo.
Football.London note that Mendes and Paratici have a ‘strong relationship’, and that’s why he suddenly has a growing influence at Tottenham – even after his client Mourinho was sacked.
Levy and Paratici are taking a huge risk
Tottenham aren’t the first club to, for lack of a better phrase, ‘get into bed’ with Mendes, and they certainly won’t be the last given his extensive list of clients.
For Tottenham though, their history with Mendes hasn’t exactly got them very far. Mourinho was a pretty dismal appointment all things considered, and his on-field clients haven’t fared much better.
Mendes offered Tottenham the chance to sign Gedson Fernandes in January 2020 – a deal they took.
Gedson offered next to nothing to Tottenham, and his 18-month loan spell was cut short midway through last season having failed to make an impact.
Matt Doherty is another Mendes client who joined Tottenham in 2020, arriving from Wolverhampton Wanderers, where Mendes has huge influence.
The Irishman may have excelled at Molineux, but he had a difficult first season at Tottenham; so much so that Spurs are already back in the market for another right back.
It doesn’t end there; striker Carlos Vinicius is another Gestifute client, and was signed on loan from Benfica to offer support for Harry Kane.
Six goals and three assists in nine Europa League outings wasn’t bad, but he only made nine Premier League appearances and scored just the once, with Tottenham deciding not to turn the move permanent.
Mourinho, Gedson, Doherty and Vinicius – all from Mendes. None of them have proven to be successes at Tottenham and yet they’re going back to Mendes for a new manager.
What is the benefit for Tottenham here? His recent involvement with the club has landed them one sacked manager, two loans who weren’t good enough to sign permanently and one player Tottenham may already want to replace.
If he had at least brought some quality players to Tottenham, you could understand a willingness to give him a say on a new manager too, but that just hasn’t happened.
By giving Mendes more and more power at Tottenham off the back of some awful moves, Daniel Levy and Paratici are taking a massive gamble.
Fans already aren’t happy with this managerial search, and seeing Mendes – who, in truth, hasn’t done anything positive for Tottenham – becoming more involved, suggesting his own clients for the job, can’t fill supporters with confidence.
If a Mendes client lands the Tottenham job this summer, fans would be well within their rights to ask what on earth Levy was thinking given that he’s already seen Mendes clients flop at Spurs.
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