When Jose Mourinho lost his job at Tottenham, Spurs fans won’t have been picking out Rui Vitoria as a potential successor.
Mourinho lost his job on Monday morning, paying the price for some poor results and a Europa League exit in recent times.
An appointment likely won’t come until the summer given that Ryan Mason is in temporary charge until the end of the season, but names are being suggested.
The latest shock name is Rui Vitoria, as journalist Duncan Castles claims that Spurs have made contact with his representatives to explore a move.
Tottenham fans would be forgiven for asking… who is Rui Vitoria?! He’s hardly a big-name manager and may even be an unknown to many Premier League fans.
Vitoria, 50, had stints with Vilafranquense, Fatima, Pascos Ferreira and Vitoria Guimaraes before landing his big break with Benfica in 2015.
Vitoria won two league titles and four other domestic trophies at Benfica, winning almost 68% of his games in charge of the club before being sacked in January 2019.
He then landed a money-spinning move to Saudi Arabia with Al-Nassr, again winning more than 60% of his games before leaving by mutual consent in December 2020.
Vitoria received praise from Al-Nassr midfielder Abdulaiz Al Jebreen for giving confidence to his players, but Benfica fans weren’t so keen.
Everton were offered Vitoria in 2017, and Benfica fans flocked to beg the Toffees to take him despite his decent record with the Lisbon giants.
Everton didn’t take up the opportunity and went with Sam Allardyce instead, which may be a red flag for Tottenham fans.
It feels very unlikely that Vitoria will land the job, and given his mixed history, fans may be baffled by this latest rumour.
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