Tottenham have reached an agreement with Roberto De Zerbi to succeed Igor Tudor, eSPORTY understands.
On Sunday, Spurs parted ways with interim boss Tudor, who lasted just 43 days in charge at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
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Adi Hutter was initially linked with the vacant Spurs role, but ruled himself out of the running on Sunday night.
And Spurs are now closing in on the appointment of De Zerbi, who has been out of work since leaving Marseille last month.
De Zerbi was initially reluctant to return to club management before the end of the season.
He was told on Sunday the key reason he should reject Spurs’ approach by Italian journalist Daniele Fisichella on Trans Euro Express.
But the north London side found a breakthrough with the Italian on Monday, and reached an agreement with him on Tuesday, with De Zerbi now set to become the club’s third manager of the season.
In the process, De Zerbi will become the third-best-paid manager in the Premier League behind Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta.
Arteta is currently paid in the region of £15million by Arsenal.
His contract does not include a relegation release clause – highlighting his commitment to the Spurs project – though it does include a pay cut clause if Tottenham go down.
De Zerbi is expected to keep Bruno Saltor on as part of his backroom staff after the ex-Brighton defender was assistant to Tudor.
eSPORTY verdict
Simon Jordan delivered his verdict on Spurs’ impending appointment of De Zerbi on White & Jordan with Martin Keown on Monday morning.
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And Jordan believes the only thing the Italian is good at is ‘creating chaos and disruption’.
“De Zerbi is creative, yeah, he’s good at creating chaos and disruption with people that he works for,” Jordan began.
“But he’s a capable manager and at the end of the day, you have to put the players into the conversation.
“The players go and execute the outcome. How can the players possibly, in any parallel universe, be excused from the outcome?”
De Zerbi’s first game in charge at Spurs, should he be appointed, will be the trip to Sunderland in mid-April.
Tottenham then follow up their game at the Stadium of Light with the welcome of De Zerbi’s former Premier League side, Brighton.
The relegation-threatened Premier League outfit then see out the campaign with games against Wolves, Aston Villa, Leeds, Chelsea and Everton.
