Negotiations between Tottenham Hotspur and Arne Slot have reached an advanced stage and it is now being reported that they could appoint him as their next manager this week.
The slot has just led Feyenoord to the Eredivisie title and has become Tottenham’s leading candidate to take over from acting head coach Ryan Mason in the summer. Spurs parted company with Antonio Conte two months ago and have been searching for a successor ever since.
Missing out on European qualification is a serious possibility for Tottenham going into the final week of the Premier League season. Therefore, they are about to start a major rebuild.
And after narrowing down their shortlist, Slot seems likely to be the manager who will oversee it.
Earlier on Monday, it was claimed that Daniel Levy is ready to make a formal offer to Slot, who is not opposed to leaving Feyenoord on a high note.
Now, Football Insider has provided the update that Tottenham could announce Slot as their new manager ‘this week’ after negotiations reached an ‘advanced stage’.
The website also hints that Slot will oversee a huge tactical transformation at Tottenham. After Conte relied on a back-three formation, the Dutch tactician would rather mimic the 4-3-3 system he has been using with Feyenoord.
Arne Slot is the polar opposite of Jose Mourinho
Using that style, he has enjoyed a couple of productive seasons with the Rotterdam outfit. Last year, they lost the Europa Conference League final to Roma, which began a bitter feud with ex-Spurs manager Jose Mourinho.
Slot publicly called out Mourinho’s style of play in the build-up to a Europa League quarter-final reunion between the two sides this season, and tensions boiled over in the tunnel after another Roma win, following which the Feyenoord boss refused to shake his counterpart’s hand.
Given that Mourinho’s tactics weren’t entirely popular with the Tottenham faithful either, knowing Slot will bring the opposite kind of style could be a relief – especially after further negativity under Conte.
The main question mark will be how adaptable and flexible Slot actually is after staying true to his principles in the Netherlands.
In order to officially kickstart the Slot era, Spurs will have to buy him out of his contract with Feyenoord, which is due to last until the end of the 2024-25 season. The compensation package could be worth around £6m.
With things progressing well in terms of tempting Slot himself, it seems Tottenham are fairly confident they will quickly be able to tie up a deal with his current employers too if they are anticipating an announcement in the coming days.
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