Tottenham Hotspur parted ways with interim manager Igor Tudor over the weekend by mutual agreement, and they continue to push harder and harder after Roberto De Zerbi. Their efforts to throw a ton of money at the former Brighton manager may actually yield a reward, as it appears that Spurs have been able to successfully convince De Zerbi to change his mind from his original plan of waiting until after the season before choosing his next team.
Per Football.London's Alasdair Gold and other reliable reporters in the United Kingdom, Tottenham are "closing in" on De Zerbi. Previously, it appeared the recent Marseille manager was going to wait to see if Spurs stayed up before showing formal interest in the club, but, well, money talks, and the volatile manager has always been the leading candidate to join Spurs.
Locking in on De Zerbi and hiring him now is because of the focus on staying up in the Premier League. On paper, De Zerbi is a long term solution, but, in reality, he rarely stays with one team for long due to falling outs with clubs over rather small issues. So there is huge risk in here.
Mauricio Pochettino loves Spurs
For Tottenham Hotspur supporters, beyond the character concerns of the sorts of people he brought in to Marseille at his last stop in coaching, a key issue is the fact that hiring Roberto De Zerbi means snubbing better long term hires, specifically Mauricio Pochettino.
With Spurs set to close in on the appointment of De Zerbi as both their short and long term solution - since De Zerbi is going to get paid handsomely to be more than just a relegation fighter - that rules out Pochettino as an option.
While Pochettino presumably would have loved the chance to come back to Spurs and save them from relegation, the reality is that he could not. He is currently coaching the United States national team in a World Cup in which they are one of the host nations, and they obviously were not going to let him coach Spurs for a little bit before coming back this summer either - nor was he realistically going to just up and abandon the national team.
Getting closer to De Zerbi means ruling out Mauricio Pochettino and snubbing him for a second time. History has proven that firing Poch in 2019 was a mistake, and that's another big reason why Spurs fans want him back. He has better character than De Zerbi and was successful here before: he proved he can be a long term option. Zeroing in on De Zerbi and paying him more money just to bring him in now feels like more disrespect towards Poch, who truly loves Spurs no matter the situation or price.