Tottenham target Arne Slot has ordered Erling Haaland’s agent to force through a move that would see him take charge of the managerless London club.
Slot, the 44-year-old coach of newly-crowned Dutch champions Feyenoord, is represented by Rafaela Pimenta, a former business associate of Mino Raiola who inherited the super-agent’s client list when he died just over a year ago.
Pimenta closed the deal which saw Haaland join Manchester City in a £51million deal from Borussia Dortmund last summer. And she’s now been tasked with negotiating Slot’s release from Feyenoord after the Rotterdam club made it clear they would fight to keep their coach out of the clutches of Spurs chairman Daniel Levy.
Slot is now the top candidate to succeed Antonio Conte after number one choice Xabi Alonso confirmed he was staying with Bayer Leverkusen. But a £6m release clause in his Feyenoord contract cannot be triggered for another year – and the Dutch club will demand around £10m to allow their boss to walk away early.
Pimenta has already had two meetings with Tottenham and is scheduled to return to London for more talks when the Premier League season ends next week. She has also opened negotiations with Feyenoord following an offer of a new contract that would double his wages to £4m-a-year.
But Slot wants the chance to test himself in the Premier League after guiding Feyenoord to their first title in six years despite spending just £25m on new players. He earned a £1m bonus for taking the club back into the Champions League.
But Slot would really hit the jackpot with a move to Tottenham. The former FC Zwolle, NAC Breda and Sparta Rotterdam midfielder has revealed his admiration for the Premier League.
But he was also careful in his choice of words after being sacked by AZ Alkmaar two years ago when they discovered he had held talks about taking charge at Feyenoord.
Slot said: “The Premier League is the best league in the world. Serie A is producing great teams again - look at their teams in different European finals – and Germany has a big league.
“But the English Premier League is the best of all. That’s all I can say because of the way things went for me when I was at AZ Alkmaar two years ago and there was interest from another club.
“I am proud of the way we have won the championship. If you look at our football and the entertainment we gave to our crowd, that is what makes me proud. I even got compliments from fans in Amsterdam, our biggest rival city with Ajax.”
If Slot can plot an escape route from Feyenoord to Tottenham it is likely that he will try to bring Turkish international midfielder Orkun Kokcu with him. Kokcu, 22, was appointed captain by Slot and has been told he can leave the club this summer for £40m.
