Tottenham’s chaotic search for a coach ended with the hiring of Nuno Espirito Santo as José Mourinho’s successor.
Nuno is quickly back at a Premier League job after leaving Wolverhampton at the end of last season, signing a two-year deal at Tottenham.
“When you have a team with quality and talent, we want the fans to be proud and enjoy themselves,” said Nuno.
“It is a great pleasure and an honor (to be here), there is joy and I am happy and eager to start working.”
Tottenham finished seventh in May, so their European participation next season will be in the new and less lucrative Europa Conference League.
“We have no days to lose,” said Nuno, “and we must start working immediately, as the preseason starts in a few days.”
After firing Mourinho in April, Ryan Mason was put in temporary charge of the London club until the end of the season. Tottenham then attempted to bring Mauricio Pochettino back before turning his attention to Antonio Conte.
The talks were quickly shelved after it became clear that Conte didn’t fit the profile and that former Roma coach Paulo Fonseca, whom Mourinho is replacing in the Italian capital, was ready to land the job. But the search for Fonseca ended and Tottenham turned their attention to trying to recruit former AC Milan and Napoli coach Gennaro Gattuso before backlash from fans.
Tottenham’s new managing director of football, Fabio Paratici, and president Daniel Levy then sought to recruit Nuno.
“We would like to thank our fans for all their patience during this process,” said Levy.
“I have already spoken about the need to go back to our core DNA of playing offense, entertaining football and Fabio, and I believe that Nuno is the man who can take our talented group of players, embrace our young players and build something special. . .
Nuno has been available since May after his four-year stint at the Wolves ended. The 47-year-old Portuguese took office in 2017 and immediately secured promotion to the Premier League before taking two seventh places. The Wolves also reached the Europa League quarter-finals in 2020, but the loss of Diogo Jota and a serious injury to Raúl Jiménez saw the club drop to thirteenth place last season.
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