Nuno Espirito Santo made the decision with Wolves to call time on his four-year spell with the club, the Portuguese must have expected his agent to be inundated with offers.
The Portuguese had taken the Midlands outfit from the Championship to promotion to the top flight in his first season in charge.
But it was how he assembled a squad capable of challenging for a top-half finish that was more impressive, moulding Wolves into a side that reached the Europa League quarter-finals in 2018-19.
It was no small feat to finish above the likes of Arsenal and Everton, clubs with bigger budgets, but Nuno achieved it with his players largely with ties to Jorge Mendes’ agency.
This was also a coach who had guided Porto to domestic success and had also worked with Valencia during a troubled period for the LaLiga outfit.
Despite holding talks over his next move, Nuno is yet to land a new job and it remains a possibility that he may be forced to wait until another vacancy arises, although it seems Tottenham are now targeting a move.
But after a month of being unemployed, why has no club snapped him up yet?
Wolves exit
That Wolves finished the season in 13th position is a fitting way of describing their domestic season.
This was a team that had become used to making life difficult for the bigger sides, beating Chelsea and Manchester United in 2019-20 and finishing seventh in back-to-back campaigns.
But Nuno’s side were rocked by the absence of two of their star forwards for different reasons.
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Diogo Jota opted to head to Liverpool in a £41m deal in September, but it wasn’t the end of the world; Wolves had the exciting Pedro Neto and explosive winger Adama Traore to come into the side in his place.
It was the loss of Raul Jimenez, however, that really affected the squad. The Mexican suffered a serious injury after cracking his skull in a collision with David Luiz and was ruled out for the season.
Wolves were forced to experiment and deploy 18-year-old Fabio Silva as their main centre forward. Quite simply, he wasn’t ready to replace Jimenez’s 13 goals. Neither was Willian Jose, who struggled after arriving on loan in January.
A horrendous performance in the 4-0 home defeat by Burnley suggested the writing was on the wall and that Wolves needed a change after an abject display. But one bad performance should not tarnish his reputation of three years working as a Premier League manager.
Everton and Crystal Palace talks
It would appear that after his success with Wolves, Nuno would a natural choice to be interviewed for the Everton and Crystal Palace vacancies, following the respective departures of Carlo Ancelotti and Roy Hodgson.
And sure enough, the 47-year-old entered talks with both clubs as he was keen to stay in England.
Everton appeared to be frontrunners in the race given their sizeable transfer budget and fine start last season, which suggests they could be one of the clubs to follow Leicester into the top-six.
But talks broke down amid reports Nuno wanted to bring his entire backroom team with him to Goodison Park. The Toffees’ majority shareholder, Farhad Moshiri, now looks set to appoint Rafa Benitez instead.
Palace then jumped to the front of the queue to appoint Nuno but again, it was the budget required for his backroom staff which brought a grinding halt to negotiations, according to The Telegraph.
It begs the question why Nuno would play hardball over what is a rather small detail, with seemingly no issue over his wage demands or transfer ideology.
For now, it seems he will have to wait for another chance elsewhere after seeing those two moves collapse at the final hurdle.
Levy’s saviour?
Over two months have passed since Tottenham sacked Jose Mourinho and yet chairman Daniel Levy is still without a manager, with the Premier League season seven weeks away.
Spurs’ search for a new boss has taken them from the ambitious end of the spectrum — Julian Nagelsmann and Antonio Conte — to the controversial when they broke off talks with the outspoken Gennaro Gattuso due to heavy pressure from their supporters.
Even the likes of Brendan Rodgers and Julen Lopetegui have been linked with the job only for the north London club to fail to get the deal done.
And that is where Nuno could come in.
Tottenham have reportedly turned to the respected manager after breaking off talks with Paulo Fonseca and Gattuso.
Hiring the Portuguese tactician would go against Levy’s vision of building for the future with an entertaining brand of football, after watching some dire performances under Mourinho.
But Nuno isn’t exactly the most progressive coach. His style is derivative of how Portuguese teams typically set up: compact, disciplined and hard-working off the ball. While it gets results, it can be tedious to observe.
With the number of candidates available wearing thin, Tottenham may have no choice but to make a compromise, knowing that Nuno has Premier League experience and can help fire them back into the top six.
He will be hoping this time, it is third time lucky for his backroom staff.
