Report: Spurs snub Argentine who ‘actively wanted’ and ‘pushed’ to become manager

Former River Plate manager Marcelo Gallardo actively wanted to become Tottenham Hotspur’s next head coach, according to journalist Miguel Delaney.

He reported in The Independent‘s Reading the Game newsletter that Gallardo pushed for the managerial vacancy, however, the Tottenham board decided not to give it much thought due to the 47-year-old’s lack of management experience in Europe along with the financial outlay to bring him to north London.

Gallardo is the most successful manager in River Plate’s history, winning 14 titles in eight years from 2014 – including two Copa Libertadores, South America’s equivalent to the Champions League, in 2015 and 2018.

His achievements at the Argentine club have this week seen a statue unveiled of him outside the club’s Monumental Stadium.

It is said that Gallardo’s most likely next appointment would be in Spain or Italy, rather than succeeding Antonio Conte who departed Tottenham in late March in the wake of his brutally honest assessment of his squad.

Tottenham are instead said to have Celtic’s Ange Posecoglou as their main frontrunner to take charge of the side who for the first time in over a decade will not play in European competition next season.

SpursWeb Opinion

The news that Tottenham did not give Gallardo’s interest much thought will only go further to frustrate pockets of the fanbase, who had already heard their chants of a return for Mauricio Pochettino also ignored.

Gallardo may not have any experience of working in Europe and is not fluent in English, however, Pochettino was only in his infancy at Southampton and worked under a translator

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