Tottenham manager target opens door to move by making major admission over ‘special’ Prem

Lewis Oldham
Tottenham-linked Enrique

Former Barcelona boss Luis Enrique has openly admitted that he “would like” to work in the Premier League amid reports linking him with Tottenham.

Spurs are looking for a new permanent manager ahead of next season as they parted company with Antonio Conte last week.

The 52-year-old has been out of work since the end of last year. He stepped down from his position as Spain head coach after his side exited the World Cup in the round of 16.

The Spaniard has previously had spells at Barcelona and Roma but he is yet to manage in the Premier League.

He has attracted interest from Man Utd in the past but he is now understood to be among the leading candidates to replace Conte at Tottenham.

Enrique has now indicated that he “would like to work” in the Premier League.

“I have a special attraction to England, I would like to go to England to work,” Enrique told Spanish radio station SER Deportivos Gijon (quotes via The Express).

“I also follow the big teams in Spain. It is an interesting league. Clearly, I am influenced because I would like to work there.

“But I am not going to deceive you, I am not going to go to any team. I would like to go to a team that can do important things and there are a lot of world-class coaches who want to go to the Premier, so I’m under no illusions. But that doesn’t mean I won’t train in Spain.”

Ex-Bayern Munich boss Julian Nagelsmann is another manager being linked with Tottenham.

Jamie O’Hara believes Nagelsmann may struggle to “turn the fortunes of the club around”.

“The only problem you’ve got if you appoint Nagelsmann is the philosophy and mentality of the club is still the same, because they’ve had top managers in the past – Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte, Mauricio Pochettino – and they didn’t win trophies. Something’s got to change at the actual football club otherwise it doesn’t matter what manager you bring in, you’re not going to get the results that you want,” O’Hara told Grosvenor Sport.

“Daniel Levy needs to get the right people in the club with players, recruitment and the manager. The whole mentality of the club has got to be better. Spurs sign too many average players, give them long-term contracts and they aren’t worthy of them or good enough.

“If you want Nagelsmann or Pochettino to come in, it’ll be a tough ask for them to turn the fortunes of the club around. But they are still top managers, so they’ll need to get the best out of the players and get it right. Spurs aren’t a million miles away from it.”

READ MORE: Nagelsmann isn’t ‘available’ just because he’s out of a job – surely he can do better than Spurs?