Tottenham Hotspur have signed Nuno Espirito Santo as manager, the club announced Wednesday. The 47-year-old Portuguese coach departed Wolverhampton at the end of last season after an impressive run with the club, leading them to Premier League promotion via winning the Championship, two seventh-place finishes in the top flight, Europa League participation and a 13th-place finish in the league last season.
"First of all, I'd like to welcome Nuno to the Club. We should like to thank our supporters for all their patience throughout this process," Spurs chairman Daniel Levy said. "I've spoken already about the need to revert back to our core DNA of playing attacking, entertaining football and [managing director Fabio Paratici] and I believe Nuno is the man who can take our talented group of players, embrace our young players coming through and build something special."
Nuno began his coaching career at Rio Ave in Portugal before getting a big job at Valencia with friend and owner Peter Lim, leading Los Che to Champions League qualification. He later coached his former club Porto in 2016-17 before joining Wolves.
✍️ Welcome to Tottenham Hotspur, Nuno Espírito Santo.#WelcomeNuno
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) June 30, 2021
After helping establish Wolves in the Premier League, where their talented squad looks set to stay for the coming years, he now gets a chance at a bigger job in England that isn't as attractive as it has been in recent years.
Tottenham missed out on Champions League and Europa League qualification but did qualify for the newly-formed Europa Conference League, set to make its debut next season. Spurs struggled with injuries all season long and failed to play consistently under Jose Mourinho, losing the EFL Cup final just days after he was sacked.
What is normally a really attractive gig isn't as appealing at the moment due to the future of striker Harry Kane, who might be on his way out of the club in pursuit of trophies. The team still has star players like goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and Son Heung-min, but it feels like this team will be far from a contender for any trophy next season, pending the investments made in the squad over the summer.
