Tottenham are in advanced talks with Antonio Conte after sacking head-coach Nuno Espirito Santo.
Sources in Italy claim Spurs are confident of luring the former Chelsea boss back to the capital, with Sky Italia reporting the Italian is due in London today for talks with chairman Daniel Levy and managing director Fabio Paratici.
Conte was Paratici's first choice to succeed Jose Mourinho in June but discussions broke down, with Conte reportedly unimpressed with the club's assurances over spending and Spurs sources claiming the Italian was reluctant to work with their young players.
Spurs eventually settled for Nuno after Paratici recommended Paulo Fonseca and Gennaro Gattuso, but the Portuguese has been a disaster and was this morning sacked after just four months in the job.
The final straw for Spurs was Saturday's dismal 3-0 defeat to Manchester United, when supporters booed Nuno's decision to replace Lucas Moura with Steven Bergwijn and chanted "you don't know what you're doing" at the beleaguered head-coach.
Nuno was the first Spurs manager since Christian Gross to lose five of his first 10 League games and the club's style has been abject.
They failed to record a shot on target against United, who had been thrashed 5-0 by Liverpool a week earlier.
Spurs also sacked Nuno's coaching staff of Ian Cathro, Rui Barbosa and Antonio Dias, and said they would announced a coaching update in "due course".
Paratici said: "I know how much Nuno and his coaching staff wanted to succeed and I regret that we have had to take this decision.
“Nuno is a true gentleman and will always be welcome here. We should like to thank him and his coaching staff and wish them well for the future.”
Conte would arrive with a reputation was one of the top five coaches in the world, having most recently guided Inter Milan to a first Scudetto in over a decade last season before he walked out of the job over a financial row.
The 51-year-old won the title in his first season in Stamford Bridge in 2016-17 and later the FA Cup, while he coached Juventus to three consecutive titles from 2011 to 2014, working closely with Paratici who was then the Old Lady's sporting director.
Conte is thought to be open to working with Paratici again, although his appointment would represent another dramatic change of direction from the club, with senior figures committed to a lengthy rebuild and starting a new cycle when Nuno was in charge.
Conte has a reputation for wanting instant success and is likely to demand improvements to the squad at the earliest opportunity if he is given the job.
Fonseca remains out of work and has been considered as a successor to Steve Bruce by newly-rich Newcastle, while Porto manager Sergio Conceicao wants to work in England and has been recommended to Spurs.
If Spurs cannot make a quick appointment, one option would be to consider turning to Ryan Mason for Thursday's Europa Conference League home match against Vitesse Arnhem after he acted as interim head-coach at the end of last season following Mourinho's dismissal.
