Tottenham make Andoni Iraola top target if they move on from Ange Postecoglou

Tottenham Hotspur have made Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola their top target to take over as head coach should they decide to part company with Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou’s position at Spurs has been the subject of intense scrutiny with the club 14th in the Premier League table, having lost more than half of their league games this season (15 of 29).

Tottenham are still focused on finishing the season strongly, especially with a Europa League quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt next month. But regardless of what happens over the next two months, there are question marks over Postecoglou’s long-term future. The 59-year-old will still have one year left on his Spurs contract this summer, with the option of a fourth, but his future is in serious doubt beyond this season.

Iraola, 42, has been hugely impressive since he was appointed by Bournemouth in the summer of 2023. His team are 10 points ahead of Tottenham in the Premier League. They beat Spurs 1-0 in December and had the better of a 2-2 draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium earlier this month.

The former Rayo Vallecano coach has one year left on the contract he signed at the start of the season, and if Tottenham want to appoint him they would have to pay a £10million ($13m) release clause, although this is unlikely to be a barrier. Ultimately, the ball will be in Iraola’s court, although the situation may also be connected to which other big jobs are available this summer, not least whether there might be a vacancy at Real Madrid. Right now, there is no clarity about what Iraola will decide.

While Iraola would be the leading candidate for a Spurs vacancy this summer, he is not the only potential option. Fulham’s Marco Silva and Brentford’s Thomas Frank are under consideration. Both have taken their teams into the Premier League and established them there in recent years. Fulham are eighth, 11 points ahead of Spurs, and in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Brentford are 11th, seven points ahead of Postecoglou’s side.

Silva is the second likeliest for the role behind Iraola. The 47-year-old was highly rated during Tottenham’s 2023 managerial search, reaching the final three, only for the job to go to Postecoglou instead. Silva has made Fulham a consistent top-half side during his four years there, and is aiming to win their first-ever major trophy in the FA Cup.

Silva also has one year left at Craven Cottage. That deal initially contained a release clause in excess of £10m, so he would not come cheap. But Fulham are confident of keeping hold of their best manager of the modern era.

Frank held talks with Aston Villa about becoming their head coach in October 2022 when Tottenham’s technical director Johan Lange was Villa’s sporting director but they ultimately opted for Unai Emery. The Dane has won many admirers for helping Brentford punch above their weight since promotion to the top flight in 2021, despite having one of the lowest budgets in the division.

What Tottenham could be getting

Analysis by Jay Harris

Iraola’s appeal to Spurs is clear to see — not least because he shares a similar career path and style to former head coach Mauricio Pochettino, who guided them to the 2019 Champions League final. Pochettino was a young and upcoming manager when he left Southampton after a year to join Tottenham. He developed a young core which became Spurs’ best side of the modern era. In Micky van de Ven, Dejan Kulusevski, Lucas Bergvall, Mikey Moore and Archie Gray, the building blocks are already in place for Iraola if he takes on the role.

Iraola crucially already has Premier League experience which was not the case with Postecoglou. There are similarities between the pair in how intense they want their teams to be without the ball but they have different approaches in possession. Spurs have averaged around 112 passes per game in the defensive third under Postecoglou while Bournemouth tend to complete around 59. Spurs under Postecoglou are about controlling the ball by building up from the back, whereas Iraola’s Bournemouth thrive at disrupting their opponents.

Silva rebuilt his reputation with Fulham after stints with Hull City, Watford and Everton. During his first year in charge, Fulham won the Championship title with 90 points and scored 106 goals. Aleksandar Mitrovic broke the competition’s goalscoring record by finding the back of the net 43 times. After years of bouncing around between the two divisions, Silva has stabilised Fulham in the top-flight. They finished 10th in the 2022-23 campaign and, despite losing Mitrovic, came 13th last season.

Fulham have recorded several impressive results this season, including beating Newcastle United twice and taking four points from Spurs. They are on course to break their record points total of 53, set back in 2008-09 under Roy Hodgson. Silva has proven adept at improving players who had fallen out of favour at other clubs including Alex Iwobi, Emile Smith Rowe and Andreas Pereira, while Calvin Bassey and Antonee Robinson have improved under him.

Frank, meanwhile, became an assistant at Brentford in December 2016 and he replaced Dean Smith as head coach two years later. Brentford were one of the most attractive and exciting teams to watch in the Championship on their way to winning the 2021 play-off final.

He adapted his style for their first two seasons in the Premier League and put an extra focus on defensive solidity. They switched shape from 4-3-3 to 3-5-2 and played direct with then-goalkeeper David Raya often launching passes towards Ivan Toney. Frank has evolved the side since and they now primarily play out from the back.

At the beginning of his career, Frank coached Denmark’s youth-teams and he has a track record of developing players and harnessing their potential including Toney, Bryan Mbeumo, Ollie Watkins and Mikkel Damsgaard.

He has a long history with Lange due to their shared Danish background. Since Lange joined in November 2023, Tottenham have focused on signing young players under the age of 23. Frank’s skillset would perfectly complement this young core.

(Top photo of Andoni Iraola / Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

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