Tottenham Hotspur's wait for a new permanent head coach is almost over.
Spurs have been on the hunt for Jose Mourinho's successor for almost two months after placing Ryan Mason in temporary charge for the final weeks of the 2020/21 season.
Despite being linked with an array of big-name candidates from Antonio Conte to Mauricio Pochettino, the north London club are set to make a rather surprising appointment in Paulo Fonseca.
Currently a free agent after leaving AS Roma - and somewhat ironically replaced by Mourinho - football.london have reported that a deal for Fonseca is close, although not yet done.
And, according to the Telegraph, the Portuguese coach is hopeful the announcement of him being named the new Tottenham manager will come this week with the two parties now in negotiations to conclude an agreement.
Furthermore, the report states that Fonseca has been a man in demand since leaving Roma, with a number of Serie A clubs interested in his signature.
But amid the hope of being offered a Premier League job, the 48-year-old is said to have rejected offers from Fiorentina and Sassuolo in particular in order to get his dream move.
Once Fonseca is appointed, Spurs fans can expect a different style of play than that over Mourinho's counter-attacking approach that often split opinion amongst the fan base.
"No, I don't like playing deep and waiting for the counter-attack," Fonseca told ESPN. "Sometimes it can happen in moments with my team, like against Ajax in the second leg of the quarterfinal, but it is not my style of play."
"I think [when we've had problems] many times, it hasn't been because other teams created situations against us. It's because we made mistakes, losing balls in the first phase of play.
"And I think we paid more dearly for those mistakes than is normal, and that has been our biggest problem.
"Because yes, this type of game that we play can be risky, but in the long run I believe it is successful."
