Andoni Iraola and Marco Silva will be among the leading candidates to succeed Ange Postecoglou if Tottenham Hotspur feel forced into changing the club’s head coach.
Pressure is growing once again on Postecoglou following Sunday’s defeat by Silva’s Fulham that has left Spurs 14th in the Premier League table with just nine games left to play.
Bournemouth are expected to fight to try to keep Iraola, but there are doubts emerging over Silva’s future at Fulham, despite the superb job he has done at Craven Cottage.
The Europa League is being viewed as being critical to Postecoglou’s job prospects and the competition could yet save Tottenham’s season, given it offers the chance of silverware and qualification to the Champions League.
There has been no suggestion from Tottenham that Postecoglou would be sacked if Spurs were to fail to win the Europa League or were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Eintracht Frankfurt.
The club have remained supportive of Postecoglou and have been understanding of the injury crisis that was a huge contributing factor to Tottenham’s form and results.
Postecoglou, however, has seen Tottenham fail to beat Bournemouth and Fulham since having a number of players back, as well as struggling past AZ in the last-16 of the Europa League.
Iraola has done a superb job at Bournemouth this season, despite last Saturday’s defeat by Brentford. The club are competing for European qualification and face Manchester City in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup after the international break.
There have been reports that Bournemouth want to extend Iraola’s contract, although sources close to his camp have indicated that he would be interested in the prospect of taking over at Tottenham.
Iraola’s current contract runs to 2026 and owner Bill Foley has confirmed that he plans to talk to Iraola personally about his future when he is scheduled to be in the UK next month.
Bournemouth face the threat of losing some of their stars this summer, with defenders Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez among those attracting interest from big clubs.
Silva’s Fulham team beat Tottenham on Sunday to maintain their bid to qualify for Europe and the Cottagers are also in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, where they will face Crystal Palace.
But sources have cast doubt on Silva’s future at Fulham past this season, believing he and the club could be heading for a parting of the ways.
Like Iraola at Bournemouth, Silva is contracted to Fulham until the end of next season and it has previously been reported that the Portuguese has a £6 million release clause.
It remains to be seen whether or not Fulham would demand the full clause to let Silva leave, or whether Tottenham, or another club, would be prepared to pay it.
Postecoglou has remained largely popular with Tottenham’s players and fans throughout what has been an extremely challenging season, although some cracks have appeared.
The Australian was again caught on camera confronting an angry supporter at the end of the defeat by Fulham, while his team selection for the game raised some eyebrows.
Tottenham’s goalscorers in the victory over AZ, Wilson Odobert and James Maddison, both started on the substitutes’ bench against Fulham, along with Lucas Bergvall who has been one of Spurs’ best players.
Postecoglou is being careful with the fitness of his players and understandably also dropped Micky van de Ven back down to the bench after the Dutchman had started in Europe.
But the decisions regarding Odobert, Maddison, Bergvall and captain Son Heung-min caused some surprise given Tottenham do not play again until April 3, when they travel to Chelsea, and also prompted debate over whether or not Postecoglou is prioritising the Europa League over the Premier League.
