Although Tottenham Hotspur fans overwhelmingly want the club to go back to iconic manager Mauricio Pochettino, who once had Spurs competing for Champions League and Premier League titles a decade ago, the entire list of candidates can't just be one man.
Spurs are going to have to broaden their horizons. For now, it actually looks like Roberto De Zerbi of Marseille - and formerly of Brighton and Sassuolo - is their top option to replace Igor Tudor and Thomas Frank, but there are a number of other coaches whom Spurs are currently or have once looked at last year after the Ange Postecoglou firing.
Premier League managers Andoni Iraola, Marco Silva, and Oliver Glasner are going to be linked. German and/or Bundesliga managers Adi Hutter, Niko Kovac, and Edin Terzic are going to be on the radar, too.
Edin Terzic could join Athletic Club
To that end, a new report from Florian Plettenberg of Sky Sports Germany states that Terzic, who once coached Borussia Dortmund, is "currently the top favorite" to become the next manager of historic Basque club Athletic Club next season. Ernesto Valverde, an icon in Bilbao, has already made it clear that he will be stepping down at the end of this difficult season for the Lions. Per Plettenberg, Terzic is "very open" to coaching Athletic, and there are "already advanced" talks between club and coach.
Interestingly enough, former Athletic Club star right back Andoni Iraola has been closely linked to the job, too. Iraola has a stronger managerial track record than Terzic. While Terzic won a cup title in Dortmund, he flamed out by the end, going from hero of the club to something of a villain, making terrible lineup selections, feuding with club legends Marco Reus and Mats Hummels, and causing issues behind the scenes with members of the front office in an ugly power struggle before he was ultimately fired.
Meanwhile, Iraola has consistently overperformed with Bournemouth and turned Antoine Semenyo and even Dominic Solanke, partially thanks to Tottenham's transfer woes, high priced signings. And now, he is doing the same with real stars of the future like Junior Eli Kroupi and Rayan already in 2026.
Terzic joining Bilbao would take away arguably the worst possible manager option for Tottenham who has been linked in the past, though Scott Parker is right there in the discussion, and thus make Iraola more open. Iraola is still deciding on his Bournemouth future, and actually, for those who want Pochettino at Tottenham, Terzic joining Bilbao might make Iraola more wililng to stay with the Cherries. Thus, that would take two managers off the table and potentially increase the chances of a Poch reunion. Iraola is the less awful option, but Poch is likely the best option.