Tottenham are close to confirming Paulo Fonseca as their new manager, according to reports.
The club failed to secure the services of Antonio Conte and Mauricio Pochettino after sacking Jose Mourinho in April.
However, Tottenham’s new managing director of football Fabio Paratici says Fonseca is on the verge of signing a two-year deal.
According to BBC Sport, talks with the Portuguese manager started last week and have been ‘edging towards a successful conclusion’.
Finding a replacement for Mourinho has not been an easy feat for Tottenham – who finished the 2020-2021 season in seventh place.
Having failed to sign Julian Nagelsmann, Brendan Rodgers, Erik ten Hag, Conte and Pochettino, Spurs are now set to appoint their sixth choice to replace Mourinho.
Fonseca was named as a candidate for the Tottenham job before Pochettino was appointed in 2014 and has a similar managerial style to the Argentine boss.
Fonseca is regarded as a likeable, charismatic coach but failed to prove his worth during his two biggest jobs to date – at Porto and at Roma.
However, he did enjoy three trophy-laden seasons in Ukraine with Shakhtar Donetsk before joining Roma.
Additionally, Fonseca does have a decent record in Europe – leading Shakhtar to the Champions League last 16 and Roma to last season’s Champions League semi-finals.
Although, he will probably be best remembered in the Italian capital for accidentally bringing on too many substitutes in a Coppa Italia clash in January.
Roma went on to lose that game 4-2 to Spezia but would have been disqualified regardless of the result after bringing on six players – one more than the allotted five.
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