Tottenham Hotspur have today announced that they have sacked head coach Jose Mourinho less than a week before the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City at Wembley.
Following Friday evening's 2-2 draw against Everton at Goodison Park, football.london confirmed that there was a growing doubt within the club that Mourinho would not be in charge by the start of next season.
Now just over 48 hours ahead of Wednesday evening's Premier League clash with Southampton at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Spurs have confirmed that they have relieved Mourinho and his coaching staff of their duties with immediate effect.
A statement released by the north London club said: "The club can today announce that Jose Mourinho and his coaching staff Joao Sacramento, Nuno Santos, Carlos Lalin and Giovanni Cerra have been relieved of their duties.
"Chairman, Daniel Levy, said: 'Jose and his coaching staff have been with us through some of our most challenging times as a club.
"'Jose is a true professional who showed enormous resilience during the pandemic. On a personal level I have enjoyed working with him and regret that things have not worked out as we both had envisaged. He will always be welcome here and we should like to thank him and his coaching staff for their contribution.'
"Ryan Mason will take first team training today and a further update will follow in due course."
Although Mourinho's announcement has only been confirmed a short time ago, the speculation of who could replace him on a long-term basis is already rife.
Former Spurs midfielder Mason, assisted by Chris Powell, will take the reins until the end of the campaign, with chairman Levy poised to appoint Mourinho's successor ahead of the start of the 2021/22 season, allowing the new boss to get to know his squad and put all of his own plans in place ahead of the big kick-off.
Unsurprisingly, RB Leipzig manager Julian Nagelsmann, who has recently been tipped to replace the outgoing Hansi Flick at Bayern Munich, has stormed to the top of the betting charts and is already the favourite to replace Mourinho.
Should Levy earmark the young German to be the Portuguese chief's successor, it may be a proposition that the former Hoffenheim boss would consider, taking into account that he has previously refused to rule out the prospect of taking the reins at a Premier League club.
"I have a contract now until 2023 so I think I will stay in Leipzig," said Nagelsmann in an interview with the Telegraph back in February.
"The Premier League is a very interesting league and I can imagine it could be a big aim to be a big manager in the Premier League one day like [Liverpool boss] Jurgen [Klopp] who is very successful.
"It could be a step in the future.
“But, you know, in soccer it’s not that easy to plan ‘how long will you be a manager in Leipzig? When will you go to the Premier League?’
"I could imagine going to the Premier League. I could imagine staying as a manager in the Bundesliga for my whole career. It’s cool to be a manager in my own country. I love it.
"But then perhaps in the future we can meet face-to-face in the Premier League, who knows.”
Nagelsmann is still in with a chance of leading Leipzig to the Bundesliga title this season, meaning speculation about his future is probably the last thing he and the club would be wanting right now.
But considering just how talented a young manager, and how he has transformed Leipzig's outlook since taking charge in 2019, it is fully understandable why he would attract so much attention.
