According to Rai Sport journalist Ciro Venerato, Tottenham are now interested in hiring Gennaro Gattuso as José Mourinho’s replacement.
Speaking on Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli (via CalcioNapoli24), Venerato said: “Gattuso will not be the Napoli coach from Monday, the Napoli players have known for months that Rino will no longer be the Napoli coach. Lazio and Juventus are on Gattuso, but the news of the day is that Tottenham have put Gattuso on the list of candidates for the next coach.
“The English club have been dealing with Antonio Conte for a month, but now also like Gattuso. Tottenham President Daniel Levy has seen many Napoli matches and has watched Gattuso closely. He was impressed by the quality of the game and the quality of the ideas seeing the matches against Milan and Roma.”
Now, this is a very interesting development.
Firstly, it is intriguing to see that Levy has been dealing with Antonio Conte for a month, but still feels the need to be identifying new targets.
In our view, if the talks with Conte were looking promising, Levy wouldn’t be eyeing up anymore alternatives to the ones he already has.
The likes of Graham Potter, Roberto Martinez and Hansi Flick have been linked in addition to Conte.
It is also interesting to hear that Levy has watched Gattuso’s Napoli in action, and has been left impressed by what he’s seen.
The style adopted by whoever replaces Mourinho is key, as Spurs supporters eventually grew tired of watching defensive football.
Since retiring at FC Sion, Gattuso has enjoyed a decent managerial career.
The 43-year-old has won 130 of his 286 games, averaging 1.62 points per game which isn’t too bad at all.
Gattuso’s sides have scored 387 goals, conceding 301.
In total, the Italian has amassed 464 points as a manager, and also secured the Italian Cup in the 2019/20 season.
Tottenham fans might remember Gattuso as the man who head-butted Joe Jordan when Spurs beat AC Milan at the San Siro back in February 2011.
The Italian also put his hands around the throat of Harry Redknapp’s No.2.
Nevertheless, he seems to have calmed down a bit since his playing days, although he still has a tendency to flare up on the touchline.
Keep an eye on this rumour, as it’s certainly an interesting one.
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