Shades of Nuno Santo: Spurs could spend £9m to hire big Postecoglou upgrade

It’s been a funny old season for Tottenham Hotspur.

While the vast majority of the campaign has been nothing short of shambolic, especially in the Premier League, the fans are surely now the happiest in London following their Europa League triumph last week.

However, even though Ange Postecoglou was able to deliver the club their first trophy in 17 years, his job could still be under serious threat.

In fact, if recent reports are to be believed, another manager in the Premier League is currently one of the leading candidates to replace him this summer.

Tottenham’s manager search

Before we get to the coach in question, it’s worth looking at a couple of the other names that have been linked with Spurs in recent weeks and months, such as Marco Silva and Oliver Glasner.

The former might not have had the best of times managing Everton in the past, but since taking charge of Fulham in 2021, he has led them up from the Championship and established them as a solidly mid-table side.

Glasner, on the other hand, has worked wonders at Crystal Palace, turning them into a team capable of giving anyone a game and then delivering them their first-ever major honour in the FA Cup earlier this month.

However, with both looking like they’ll be staying at their respective clubs, another name has become a prominent candidate for the Lilywhites hot seat: Thomas Frank.

According to a recent report from talkSPORT, the Brentford boss is now ’emerging as a strong contender to replace Postecoglou’ ahead of next season.

The report revealed that Dane has a hefty £9m release clause in his contract with the Bees, although his ‘long-standing relationship with Spurs’ technical director Johan Lange’ could help justify the outlay.

It could be a complicated and potentially unpopular decision in light of their European success, but given his record in the league, Frank could be an ideal Postecoglou replacement.

How Frank compares to Ange

It’s important to note that should Spurs pull the trigger and bring in Frank ahead of next season, then the fans won’t have to wave goodbye to entertaining football.

Now, while it’s true that the Dane’s sides don’t tend to be quite as gung-ho as the Australian’s, they aren’t too far off, with the Bees’ average defensive line height this season being 45.16m from their own goal to the North Londoners’ 46.43m.

Moreover, despite losing their star striker in the summer, the West Londoners remain one of the league’s highest scorers, racking up an impressive tally of 66 goals this year to the Lilywhites’ 64.

With that said, how have the managers stacked up against one another this season?

Well, the “sensational” Frederiksværk-born coach, as dubbed by Sky Sports’ Dougie Critchley, has managed 43 games, of which he’s won 19, drawn eight and lost 16, which comes out to an impressive average of 1.51 points per game.

For his efforts, the former Celtic manager has overseen 60 games, won 26, drawn eight and lost 26, which comes out to a less impressive average of 1.43 points per game.

Moreover, while the Athens-born coach did win the Europa League, he oversaw 22 league defeats to the Dane’s 14 this season, which could be what ends up costing him his job.

Ultimately, while it might not be popular right away, Frank has proven over the last few years that he can overachieve in the Premier League, perhaps in a similar light to Nuno Santo at Wolves before he headed to north London. That might well be a warning sign but either way, he’d surely be an upgrade on Ange.

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