Tottenham Hotspur had on Thursday ended their negotiations with Paulo Fonseca to replace his compatriot Jose Mourinho as manager at White Hart Lane.
It was later reported that the move was necessitated by their plan to hire the services of Napoli former boss Gennaro Gattuso after the Italian’s deal to Fiorentina had broken down just 22 days over a disagreement on players’ summer transfer.
Fiorentina wanted more affordable additions than those proposed by Gattuso’s agent – Jorge Mendes – such as Sergio Oliveira from Porto and Goncalo Guedes from Valencia National Daily gathered.
However, reports reaching National Daily reveal that further talks to hire Gattuso have also ended following a fan backlash on social media that included the ‘No to Gattuso’ hashtag
It is understood that Spurs new director of football Fabio Paratici being a huge fan of Gattuso, has seen him as a more appealing option.
But National Daily can confirm that following a fan backlash on social media on Thursday night, as the “No to Gattuso” hashtag trended, plans for the former Italy World Cup-winner will not go any further and Tottenham’s protracted search for a new head coach goes on.
National Daily further learnt that Spurs’ LGBTQ+ supporters’ association, Proud Lilywhites, expressed concern on Thursday night over Gattuso’s previous comments about same-sex marriage, while the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust said they were “aware of and acting on” fan worry about the Italian.
It therefore becomes obvious that Daniel Levy and Fabio Paratici who had previously made a failed attempt to bring in former Inter Milan manager Antonio Conte earlier this month will continue on their journey to replace Mourinho at least before August 24, 2021 when Tottenham will play host to the reigning English Premier League (EPL} Champions Manchester City in their 2021/2022 EPL season kick off.
Similarly, it was previously reported that Tottenham have also failed with their attempt to hire both Julian Nagelsmann and Brendan Rodgers while also trying in vain to tempt their erstwhile manager Mauricio Pochettino back to north London after one year and half they sacked him.