Tottenham's Long Search Ends, Nuno Espirito Appointed As Manager

JAKARTA - Tottenham Hotspur ended their long search for a new manager by appointing Nuno Espirito Santo to the position on Wednesday after the Portuguese left Wolverhampton Wanderers at the end of last season.

Nuno left Wolves after four seasons. Wolves were promoted to the Premier League in 2018 after a six-year absence and regained their top-flight status for three seasons.

Nuno previously also coached Valencia and Porto.

"When you have a squad with quality and talent, we want to make the fans proud and happy," said Nuno, who has just signed a two-year contract as quoted by Antara from the team's official website.

"It's a huge pride and honour, there's joy and I'm excited and looking forward to getting to work. We don't want to lose a day and we have to start working as soon as pre-season starts in the next few days."

Spurs have been linked with a number of managers since sacking Jose Mourinho in April, six days before their League Cup final defeat to Manchester City, and keeping Ryan Mason in charge until the end of the season.

Other candidates for manager include Paulo Fonseca, who last managed Roma, former Inter Milan boss Antonio Conte and former Napoli manager Gennaro Gattuso.

Former Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino was also named but the Argentine, who took charge of Paris St Germain in January, said last month he wanted to continue building on what he has achieved with the French club in half a season.

Former Germany and United States coach Juergen Klinsmann is also interested in the vacant manager's position and has even called club chairman Daniel Levy after Mourinho was sacked.

Mourinho, a former Chelsea and Manchester United coach, has been criticized by fans for playing uninspiring football that saw the London club slip from the top spot to seventh and finds them expelled from the Europa League.

Nuno's appointment comes after Tottenham signed Fabio Paratici as their new director of football earlier this month. He previously served as chief football officer at Juventus for 11 years.

Tottenham will start their new league season at home to reigning champions Manchester City on 15 August.