Tottenham have been dealt another major blow as Bayer Leverkusen boss and former Liverpool star Xabi Alonso has ruled himself out of the hotseat in north London following the departure of Antonio Conte.
Spurs have been without a permanent manager since the Italian left at the end of the March international break, with first Christian Stellini and then Ryan Mason taking caretaker charge of the club as their season goes from bad to worse.
As it stands, with two games left to play they are still in line for a place in the UEFA Conference League, but that could disappear should Aston Villa better their final results, which would leave Spurs without European football.
And they are not having much luck finding a new manager either.
The Lilywhites have already seen their approach for Julian Nagelsmann turned down, while they themselves turned down the opportunity to appoint former Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino back into his old role, with the Argentine primed to take the reigns in west London with rivals Chelsea instead.
Fellow target Vincent Kompany also ended any speculation linking him with the vacancy by signing a new contract with Burnley following their promotion to the Premier League at the end of the Championship season.
“Yes, I’m gonna stay at Bayer Leverkusen”, the former Liverpool man told German media.
“I’m very happy at this club and with this team”, Alonso added.
It will leave Tottenham fans conjuring memories of two summers ago, where they were ultimately turned down by eight different managers before turning to Nuno Espirito Santo, who in turn lasted three months before he was replaced by Conte.
As it stands, Arne Slot and Ruben Amorim are the favourites to take over in north London, but it is unclear how much if any progress has been made on those fronts in recent weeks.
