Manager has turned down Tottenham approach – ‘Impossible’ for him to take job, has ‘principles’

It appears that despite Julian Nagelsmann being free as a bird, Tottenham have gone after another manager with Bundesliga experience first.

That man is Niko Kovac, according to WAZ in Germany, who have a report about Spurs’ recent attempt to lure the Croatian manager away from VfL Wolfsburg.

They claim the 51-year-old was one of the candidates Tottenham saw as possibly inheriting the job following their decision to part ways with Antonio Conte, and Daniel Levy ‘commissioned his advisors to explore’ whether he would be interested.

However, they ‘didn’t have to wait long for an answer’, and it’s made clear that negotiations ‘never even started’ after the manager said it was ‘impossible for him’ to take a job at the English club.

The reason for this, per WAZ, is that Kovac ‘has principles that he strictly adheres to’, and the biggest one is that he doesn’t break contracts.

Committing himself to the Bundesliga side until 2025, he seems dead set on seeing that term through, and that’s why he made sure there was no clause in his deal either.

Therefore, it appears Tottenham will now have to look elsewhere for their next manager, having opted to use Cristian Stellini and Ryan Mason as an interim duo for the time being.