Tottenham Hotspur have begun enquiries to hire Marco Silva from Fulham – and they're not the only ones.
The Lilywhites are enduring a tough season, finding themselves 14th in the Premier League table with just nine games to go. With just four league wins since the spectacular 4-0 thrashing of Manchester City last autumn, Ange Postecoglou is under significant pressure in the dugout, as the prospect of losing out on European football looks likelier by the week.
A 2-0 loss against Silva's Whites before the international break highlighted several of the deficiencies of this Tottenham side – and now, chairman Daniel Levy is believed to be looking for a change of head coach.
Tottenham have got the ball rolling on Marco Silva move
Marco Silva, meanwhile – ranked at no.34 in FourFourTwo's list of the best managers in the world right now – has been a hit since arriving at Fulham in 2021, following stints at Hull City, Watford and Everton.
Spearheaded by 43-goal Aleksandar Mitrovic smashing records in the second tier, Silva led the west Londoners to the Championship title in his first season in charge at Craven Cottage but has arguably been even more impressive in subsequent seasons, adapting to Premier League life without the super Serbian, and then without highly influential no.6, Joao Palhinha.
Such achievements have not gone unnoticed, and Tuttomercatoweb journalist Marco Conterio has claimed that both Spurs and Juventus have enquired about the Portuguese.
“Silva will leave Fulham,” Conterio claimed in a post on X (formerly Twitter), adding that “the Bianconeri have inquired about the situation,” following the sacking of Thiago Motta in Turin.
FourFourTwo understands, however, that there may well be a complication when hiring the 47-year-old, in the form of compensation.
Silva signed a new contract with Fulham in October 2023 to keep him at the club until the end of the 2025/26 season, meaning that any club interested in luring him will have to pay the remainder of that deal.
Silva is said to earn £4 million a year as Fulham manager – a fee that may be enough to sway Spurs away from hiring him. Postecoglou is said to be on a £5m-a-year deal.
Juventus, meanwhile, didn't pay anything to bring Motta to the Allianz Stadium, with the former Italy international reaching the end of his Bologna contract before his cross-divisional switch.
Whether or not Silva will be interested in moving across London is another matter. With Fulham higher in the table and arguably more settled in terms of their squad makeup, there is a case that Tottenham isn't an attractive enough proposition to leave for right now – and with Silva having realised that the grass isn't always greener in the past, having moved across the Premier League from Watford to an ill-fated stint at Everton, perhaps experience will see him shun the advances of bigger clubs.
Spurs take on Chelsea this weekend when Premier League action returns.
