Four years on from Mauricio Pochettino warning Tottenham of a "painful" rebuild, the club must take on the Argentine's advice and put things right in N17. Not achieving the success they hoped would come their way following the appointments of Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte as head coach, Spurs are back to square once again and looking for the man who can bring the good times back to north London.
A chance for the club to reset, put plans in place and move forward as one, Daniel Levy faces some pivotal decisions with a new head coach, new managing director of football and new signings all required. Looking for someone in the same mould as Pochettino as he totally transformed the club following his arrival in the summer of 2014, Arne Slot has been heavily linked with the Tottenham hotseat.
The 44-year-old has been working his magic at Feyenoord and success has duly followed. This is not the first time that Slot has been linked with a Premier League job as Leeds United wanted to lure him to Elland Road in February only for him to turn them down.
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Looking destined to manage in England's top flight at some point down the line, it could be this summer when the Bergentheim-born coach heads to the Premier League if Tottenham make their move for him and are successful. In terms of wanting someone who can rebuild the team and take them forward in their quest to win major trophies, Slot's name has been mentioned regularly after catching the eye with his work in the Netherlands.
Retiring from football in 2013 and taking up a youth coach role with PEC Zwolle before becoming Cambuur's assistant coach, Slot would become AZ Alkmaar head coach in 2019 after previously working as John van den Brom's assistant. With AZ finishing fourth in the 2018/19 season, the Covid pandemic put an end to Slot achieving Eredivisie title success in his first full season in charge.
Having registered impressive wins over PSV and Feyenoord and done the double over Ajax, with the second win coming at the home of the Dutch giants at the beginning of March, the season was suspended a week later before it was cancelled completely the following month. AZ were level on points with Ajax at the summit of the league at that point and the season coming to an abrupt end denied Slot the chance of causing a major shock in Dutch football.
Now on the radar of a number of clubs following his fine work with AZ, in December 2020 it was confirmed that Slot, who was sacked by AZ following talks with Feyenoord over their hotseat, would take over as boss of the Rotterdam-based club at the start of the 2021/22 season. Replacing Dick Advocaat at the helm and looking to better a disappointing fifth place finish the season before, Slot led his new club to third in the Eredivisie table - 12 points off champions Ajax - and a place in the Europa Conference League final.
While their European final experience would end in heartache as former Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho led Roma to victory in Albania, Slot, who achieved the Rinus Michels Award for Eredivisie manager of the season following his fine work at De Kuip, made Feyenoord fans believe and gave them hope for the future. Given what they achieved throughout the campaign, it was no surprise to see that a number of their players were immediately snapped up by other clubs.
Top scorer Luis Sinisterra, who plundered 23 goals in all competitions, joined Leeds United in a big-money move; Guus Til returned to PSV after his loan spell; Cyriel Dessers' loan move was not made permanent, and Bryan Linssen headed for Japan. The four players who had scored 81 goals between them in all competitions were no longer at the club and Slot had to replace them.
Not only that, Fredrik Aursnes joined Benfica, Reiss Nelson returned to Arsenal after his year on loan, centre-back Marcos Senesi headed for Bournemouth and talented left-back Tyrell Malacia was signed by Erik ten Hag's Manchester United. At a time when a number of clubs would have gone backwards, Feyenoord, remarkably, moved forwards under Slot despite all the high-profile departures, thus highlighting his credentials as a manager and also that he can oversee a rebuild.
Making some savvy transfer signings, including Santiago Gimenez, who has 23 goals for the campaign, Danilo, Sebastian Szymanski, David Hancko and Oussama Idrissi, Feyenoord have come back even stronger and the Eredivisie title has duly followed, Feyenoord have only lost once in the league this season and they will be determined it stays that way with two games left on the calendar.
Handed another European blow by Mourinho's Roma as they exited the Europa League quarter-finals, the Dutch club have the Champions League to look forward to next season regardless of whether Slot is at the club or not. Forming a very impressive side that play intense, attacking, eye-catching football in either a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 formation, Feyenoord have hit 78 goals in the league this season and also demonstrated that they are strong at the other end of the pitch after only conceding 28.
Proving that he can oversee a rebuild and also put his faith in youth, with academy product Quilindschy Hartman taking on Malacia's left-back role and becoming a key part of his masterplan, Slot has demonstrated at both AZ and Feyenoord why he is so highly rated in the game. He could be the perfect fit for Tottenham as Levy looks to find the man who can take the club forward once again.
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