Tottenham Hotspur appoint former Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo as new head coach

After a long search, Tottenham Hotspur have finally found Jose Mourinho’s successor. Spurs have appointed former Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Nuno Espirito Santo as their new head coach on a two-year deal. He joins the London club after four years with Premier League club Wolves, where he guided them from the Championship to consecutive seventh-place finishes in the top flight and steered them back into Europe. It was reported that Spurs hierarchy held talks with Antonio Conte, Mauricio Pochettino, Paulo Fonseca, Gennaro Gattuso and Julen Lopetegui after their compleltion of the Premier League season. Finally, their search is over with the appointment of Nuno.

“First of all, I’d like to welcome Nuno to the club,” said Spurs chairman Daniel Levy. “We should like to thank our supporters for all their patience throughout this process. I’ve spoken already about the need to revert back to our core DNA of playing attacking, entertaining football and Fabio and I believe Nuno is the man who can take our talented group of players, embrace our young players coming through and build something special.”

Meanwhile, Spurs’ new managing director of football Fabio Paratici said, “The brief for this appointment has always been clear, we wanted a head coach that can instil all the values that are important to this football club.”

“You only have to look at Nuno’s time at Wolves to see his ability to take a group of players and implement an adaptive style that brings success and allows players to develop and thrive. We are all looking forward to getting started in what we hope will be a successful time with the club.”

Nuno Espirito Santo helped Wolves enter the Premier League in 2018. He has established them as a top-half side, with the club twice finishing seventh and once qualifying for the Europa League as well. However, they could only manage a 13th place finish last season.

‘We don’t have any day to lose’

Speaking about the appointment, Nuno told the club’s website, “It’s an enormous pleasure, an honour, a joy to be here. Obviously we had to start meetings with Fabio (Paratici) and the Board on Zoom, from a distance, but as soon as we started speaking to each other, we felt that we are in the same line, we are in the same mindset, so it went well. I’m happy and I’m looking forward to starting work. This is what it means. We don’t have any day to lose, we must start working immediately – pre-season starts in a couple of days.”

Previously, Nuno had stints at Valencia, Porto and Rio Ave. The Portuguese also spoke on his philosophies as a coach and how he fits the club’s DNA. “Having a squad like Tottenham’s, you can only have one DNA, you can only think one way. We have to enjoy the game, we have to play the game,” he added.

“When you have a squad of quality, talented players like we have, the DNA is to make the fans proud, make them enjoy watching. This is our DNA, to make our fans proud of us. There is no question about it that that will happen. We’re going to make them proud and they’re going to enjoy the team, for sure.”

“Our philosophy is not only about me, it’s about staff, the coaching staff – it’s simple, we improve players, we try to make them better, to improve them every day and by that, it’s no matter which age the player is – young, old, experienced, no experience at all – it doesn’t matter.”