With Euro 2020 over, attention now turns to the new Premier League season and how Tottenham will fare.
It’s been a traumatic summer so far for Spurs fans, with the club taking months to appoint a new manager, in what turned out to be a shambolic search for a successor to Jose Mourinho. Nuno was the man who ultimately got the job and though it was not an inspiring appointment when compared to some of the other names linked with the role, he may well have the credentials to perform better than expected.
His Wolves side over-performed in the Premier League, with two successive seventh placed finishes until last season, when they finished 13th. Last season’s performance was understandable, with Wolves having lost one of their best players when Diogo Jota was sold to Liverpool and then suffering a season-ending injury to his strike partner Raul Jimenez.
The conservative style of play employed by Wolves under Nuno is a concern. One would hope that his pragmatism was due to the fact that he was managing a newly promoted side. With Spurs having more attacking talent on offer, a more positive style will be expected. Nuno’s spell at Valencia suggests that he can be flexible and tends to adapts his style to the players he inherits.
Two players that he will be hoping to inherit are Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son. Kane has of course been subject to transfer speculation, but with three years left on his contract, it will take a huge fee to tempt Spurs. The Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has already claimed that Kane will be too expensive, which would seem to leave Manchester United as the only possible destination. Son’s contract is closer to expiry, with two years left to run. He has been in talks over an extension for some time and an announcement this summer would be a welcome boost to the club, after a period short of good news.
Despite Tottenham having been through two turbulent seasons, the team only missed out on a Champions League place by five points last term and seven the year before. If you look at the current football odds today, Spurs are rated at a price of 5/1 to finish in the top four, which could prove to be good value, should the likes of Kane and Son stay.
Nuno has a reputation for being popular amongst his players and if he can quickly generate a positive atmosphere around the camp, it’s not difficult to see how Spurs could improve upon their toxic last season under Mourinho.
