Tottenham hires Nuno Espirito Santo after chaotic process

FILE – In this Sunday, May 23, 2021 file photo, Wolverhampton Wanderers’ head coach Nuno Espirito Santo waves goodbye after their English Premier League soccer match against Manchester United at the Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, England. Tottenham’s chaotic search for a manager has ended with the hiring of Nuno Espirito Santo as Jose Mourinho’s successor on Wednesday, June 30. Nuno is quickly back in a Premier League job after leaving Wolverhampton at the end of last season, signing a two-year contract at Tottenham. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira, file)

FILE – In this Sunday, May 23, 2021 file photo, Wolverhampton Wanderers’ head coach Nuno Espirito Santo waves goodbye after their English Premier League soccer match against Manchester United at the Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, England. Tottenham’s chaotic search for a manager has ended with the hiring of Nuno Espirito Santo as Jose Mourinho’s successor on Wednesday, June 30. Nuno is quickly back in a Premier League job after leaving Wolverhampton at the end of last season, signing a two-year contract at Tottenham. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira, file)

LONDON (AP) — Tottenham’s chaotic search for a manager ended with the hiring of Nuno Espirito Santo on Wednesday as Jose Mourinho’s successor.

Nuno is quickly back in a Premier League job after leaving Wolverhampton at the end of last season, signing a two-year contract at Tottenham.

“When you have a squad with quality and talent, we want to make the fans proud and enjoy,” Nuno said. “It’s an enormous pleasure and honor (to be here), there’s joy and I’m happy and looking forward to starting work.”

Tottenham finished seventh in May so its European involvement next season will be in the less lucrative and new third-tier Europa Conference League.

“We don’t have any days to lose,” Nuno said, “and we must start working immediately as pre-season starts in a few days.”

After firing Mourinho in April, Ryan Mason was put in temporary charge of the London club until the end of the season. Tottenham then tried to bring back Mauricio Pochettino before turning its attention to Antonio Conte.

Talks were quickly shelved after it was clear Conte did not fit the profile and former Roma coach Paulo Fonseca, who Mourinho is replacing in the Italian capital, was set to get the job. But the pursuit of Fonseca ended and Tottenham turned its attention to trying to hire former AC Milan and Napoli coach Gennaro Gattuso before a fan backlash.

New Tottenham football managing director Fabio Paratici and chairman Daniel Levy then sought to bring in Nuno.

“We should like to thank our supporters for all their patience throughout this process,” Levy said. “I’ve spoken already about the need to revert back to our core DNA of playing attacking, entertaining football and Fabio 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 has been available since May after his four-year stint at Wolves ended. The 47-year-old Portuguese took over in 2017 and immediately secured promotion to the Premier League before delivering two seventh-place finishes. Wolves also made the Europa League quarterfinals in 2020 but the loss of Diogo Jota and a serious injury to Raul Jimenez saw the club slump to a 13th-place finish last season.

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