DANIEL LEVY wants Tottenham’s next head coach to return the team to “free-flowing, attacking and entertaining” football, so Feyenoord’s Arne Slot, who is in pole position for the job, can claim to be a great fit.
Slot’s side not only won the Eredivisie at a canter, they did so with a flourish, playing intense, front-foot football, characterised by a fast possession game and non-stop pressing.
His high-octane approach has already won him comparisons with Pep Guardiola, Marcelo Bielsa and Roberto De Zerbi.
As well as winning in style, Slot (right, on the training pitch) has a fine record at improving young players and quickly building a squad in his image, helping persuade Levy to prepare a formal approach for the 44-year-old, who is keen on succeeding Antonio Conte.
Despite a commitment to entertaining, he is no Ossie Ardiles; Feyenoord have the second-best defence (as well as the best attack) in the Dutch topflight, and Slot demands his players work tirelessly without the ball.
A disciple of Guardiola, he often uses the Catalan’s teams as an example to his players. In his first team meeting at Feyenoord, Slot reportedly played clips of the 2021 Champions League Final between Guardiola’s Manchester City and Chelsea, explaining that the reason there were so few chances, in spite of the attacking quality on show, was down to the diligence of the both sides’ defensive runs.
This Spurs squad is used to an entirely different style, after three successive counter-attacking coaches, but the Dutchman, formerly a midfielder, would back himself to quickly change that.
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