If there is one appointment aside from Mauricio Pochettino who would excite and unite Tottenham supporters, and potentially ease the pressure on chairman Daniel Levy, it is Julian Nagelsmann.
The 35-year-old was sacked by Bayern Munich while skiing in the Alps last week, and is a contender to succeed Antonio Conte at Spurs, although club sources insists he is not currently the leading target.
Levy considered Nagelsmann as a successor to Pochettino in 2019, and when Jose Mourinho's Spurs tenure was unravelling in spring 2021, the German's representatives made it known to the club that he would potentially be open to the job and had once owned a replica Spurs shirt.
Levy was again interested, particularly after dismissing Mourinho, but soon learned Bayern had paid a world record €25million (£22m) to poach Nagelsmann from RB Leipzig for the following season.
If the Spurs chairman does decide to try again for one of the world's best coaches but could face competition from Real Madrid, among others, for Nagelsmann in the summer.
Top target or not, Nagelsmann ticks every box for Spurs. His teams press high, demand possession and get the ball forward quickly — fulfilling Levy's desire for a manager who plays "free-flowing, attacking and entertaining" football — and he has an impressive record of promoting young players.
A disciple of Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel, Nagelsmann built his reputation on remarkable overachievement with clubs on a budget, saving 1989 Hoffenheim from relegation as a fresh-faced 28-year-old — the youngest manager in Bundesliga history — before taking them into the Champions League.
At Hoffenheim, his training-ground innovations included using drones to monitor his players' movement and installing a giant videowall on the halfway line of their main training pitch.
At RB Leipzig, he observed training from a suspended platform high in the air and supported by a crane.
Nagelsmann was interviewed for the Arsenal job as Arsene Wenger's replacement but deemed too inexperienced at 31, but was handed-picked by Ralf Rangnick to take charge of Leipzig. He guided them to a Champions League semi-final and second in the Bundesliga.
After the intractability and inflexibility of Conte, Nagelsmann's variety as a coach should particularly appeal to Spurs. Like Conte, Nagelsmann is obsessive over the positions of his players but in stark contrast to the Italian, he has been successful with a variety of different approaches.
At Hoffenheim and Leipzig, he was known for adapting his formation and approach game-by-game for each opponent and, much like Guardiola's Manchester City, it was not uncommon for Nagelsmann's systems to only become clear once the match started.
He is also adept at playing to the strengths of his own players and improving them on the training ground.
His sacking by Bayern is viewed by many in German as politically motivated. He leaves Bayern second in the Bundesliga, admittedly unfamiliar territory for a club with 10 straight titles, but just a point behind Borussia Dortmund and with a superb record in the Champions League ahead of their quarter-final against City.
His relationship with a reporter from Bild Zeitung, Germany's biggest tabloid, went down badly at the club and was said to erode trust in the dressing room. He fell out with senior players, including Thomas Muller and Manuel Neuer — who was reportedly incensed by Nagelsmann's decision to sack goalkeeping coaching Toni Tapalovic.
There was also a sense that his glamour as a coach was not always a natural fit for Germany's biggest club.
A true Millennial hipster, the vegetarian Nagelsmann has caught the eye with his bold fashion choices and been known to wear make-up to press conferences. At Leipzig, he often travelled to work on a skateboard and back home on a motorbike.
On the pitch, Bayern's failure to replace Robert Lewandowski has been problematic, and there was a feeling from senior players that Nagelsmann overcomplicated the game.
Perhaps most pertinently for Levy and Spurs, Nagelsmann did not appear entirely at ease with the club's recruitment, and has largely ignored summer signing Ryan Gravenberch.
He does not, however, have a reputation for being particularly demanding in the transfer market and is known to be a fine talent spotter.
Nagelsmann's exuberant side is likely to appeal to Levy, who is conscious of the commercial value of star quality in a manager.
Nagelsmann should be better for the experience of working for a European super-club after the relatively pressure-free environments at Hoffenheim and Leipzig.
If there is a question over Nagelsmann, it is whether his innovative approach is as effective at established, traditional institutions as at smaller, disrupter clubs such as Hoffenheim and Leipzig. This should not be a particular problem for Spurs, who have the nucleus of a young squad and whose established superstars like Harry Kane and Heung-min Son are desperate for club trophies.
The danger for Spurs is in Nagelsmann's reported desire to wait until the summer to make a decision, leaving Levy open to being gazumped by Real or another European giant if the chairman is forced to wait until the end of the season to begin any talks.
Levy is conscious of the need to avoid another embarrassing scramble for a manager after being left with Nuno Espirito Santo in summer 2021 at the end of a chaotic 72-day search for Mourinho's permanent successor, which may persuade him to prioritise other targets, despite Nagelsmann's obvious suitability for the role.
