Julian Nagelsmann has been urged to accept the Tottenham manager’s job by Ralf Rangnick, who worked with him at RB Leipzig and is a big fan of his.
Nagelsmann is under consideration by the Spurs chairman, Daniel Levy, for the role, which was vacated when Antonio Conte departed on 26 March. Spurs are under the caretaker charge of Ryan Mason after sacking the initial interim, Cristian Stellini, after Sunday’s 6-1 humiliation at Newcastle. They face Manchester United at home on Thursday night.
Nagelsmann, surprisingly sacked by Bayern Munich on 23 March, is understood to be waiting until the end of the season before making a decision on his next move, which feels less than ideal for Spurs. Can they afford to wait that long and run the risk of missing out on other targets?
Rangnick, the former Manchester United caretaker, who is the manager of Austria, believes that Nagelsmann should commit to Spurs, telling Sky Sports Germany that they are “an exciting club in many ways”.
Rangnick said: “They probably have one of the most modern, beautiful stadiums in the world, they have one of the best training centres and Daniel Levy, who has been leading the club for many, many years.”
Rangnick, who worked as the head of sport and development for Red Bull during Nagelsmann’s tenure at Leipzig, said that his former protege would need to work with a sporting director at Spurs. The club are without one following Fabio Paratici’s resignation after he failed in an appeal in Italy against his ban for alleged false accounting from his Juventus days.
It has raised the question of whether Rangnick could consider himself a possible candidate, although it is rated by sources close to him as extremely unlikely that he would leave Austria before 2024 when the European Championship will take place in Germany. If he qualified for the tournament, he would have a contract with Austria until 2026. His team have started the campaign with two wins out of two.
“If Tottenham really want him [Nagelsmann], then I think it would be important if a sporting director was still there to support him,” Rangnick said. “It can be a very, very exciting story. There is room for improvement, a lot of room for improvement and yet this is not a club where the house expects you to be in the top one or two straight away.”
