Former Premier League owner Simon Jordan believes there are a number of good reasons why Tottenham Hotspur could hire Feyenoord manager Arne Slot as Antonio Conte’s replacement.
Chief among them, of course, is the fact that Arne Slot would arrive in North London having proven himself capable of galvanising a group of players and elevating them to all-new levels, breaking Ajax and PSV’s stranglehold over the Eredivisie.
Feyenoord secured only their second league title since the turn of the Century last weekend; a 3-0 thrashing of Go Ahead Eagles at De Kuip their crowning glory.
The nature of that win, meanwhile, epitomised the attitude and the aesthetics Slot has brought to Feyenoord, the Rotterdam giants slicing through their opponents with a kind of controlled, cultured yet compelling performance reminiscent of Pep Guardiola or Erik ten Hag.
Slot not only took Feyenoord to their first Eredivisie success since 2017, he did so in style.
Is Feyenoord boss Arne Slot Tottenham Hotspur’s next manager?
“I am not a great admirer of the Eredivisie because I don’t think its as competitive a league. But notwithstanding, you can only win what you’re in,” former Crystal Palace chairman Jordan tells talkSPORT (18 May, 11.40am).
“(Feyenoord) is not one of those teams that has been bought and paid for like PSG, which dominates the French league. So, to win the league that they are in, the manager’s got to be very good at what he’s doing.”
According to The Telegraph, 44-year-old Slot is one of the names high on Daniel Levy’s watchlist as Tottenham scour the market for a head coach capable of bringing the good vibes back to this particular corner of North London.
Slot is certainly closer in style to Mauricio Pochettino – Spurs most popular and most successful manager in recent memory – than either Nuno Espirito Santo, Jose Mourinho or Antonio Conte.
‘He knows how to win’
“If you’ve got a style of football that is very appealing, then you might just have yourself an individual who can tick a few boxes,” Jordan adds, Slot promising to replace the pragmatism of the Conte era with something far more pretty and appealing.
“The guy is still at an age where he is not past his best, and not necessarily in a space where (he feels) he is right about everything like Conte or Mourinho might have been.
“He plays a style of football that will shut the Spurs fans up. (And) he knows how to win.”
Slot turned down the Leeds United job in February, but may now feel he has achieved all he can at Feyenoord. The former AZ Alkmaar coach can expect to double his wages at Tottenham.
Crystal Palace have held talks too, but appear to be leaning towards extending Roy Hodgson’s contract instead.
