West Ham United have made Paulo Fonseca their top managerial target for the summer amid allegedly interest from Tottenham Hotspur.
That is according to a report from But! Football Club over in France.
It’s stated that Fonseca has become the ‘priority’ for West Ham as they consider a new manager.
David Moyes is still fighting to keep West Ham in the Premier League but likes likely to move on even if he succeeds.
90Min reported in March that Moyes will leave West Ham as the club look to go in another direction.
That’s when the Fonseca rumours really started to ramp up, with The Guardian claiming in April that he was a target for West Ham.
These new reports in France take that further, suggesting that Fonseca has become the number one target for West Ham at this early stage in the process.
The report does though note that Crystal Palace and even Tottenham Hotspur are interested in Fonseca too.
A move to London could be on the cards for the the Lille boss, but just where he ends up is anybody’s guess.
West Ham and Tottenham have passed on Paulo Fonseca before
Fonseca has done a fine job in charge of Lille and now has them sitting fifth in Ligue 1 this season.
This is far from the first time Fonseca has been linked with a move to England – or even West Ham and Tottenham.
Fonseca allegedly interviewed for the West Ham job in 2018 as Moyes left and was eventually replaced by Manuel Pellegrini.
Talks were held between West Ham and Fonseca and were initially described as poaitive.
However, reports from Football London suggested that West Ham turned Fonseca down, highlighting a ‘poor grasp of English’.
That was nearly five years ago and West Ham may feel a little differently about his merits for the job.
As for Tottenham, Fonseca famously missed out on the job back in 2021.
Fonseca has claimed that a deal was done with Tottenham before Fabio Paratici was appointed by Spurs and scrapped the deal.
Paratici has now left Tottenham, so maybe Spurs are back in for Fonseca two years since passing up the chance.
West Ham and Spurs may well be reassessing their previous stances on Fonseca and a Premier League move could finally happen.
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