Julian Nagelsmann might just have more reason than most to want to turn Tottenham's season around if the club do look his way.
A window has suddenly opened for Tottenham with the 35-year-old about to be relieved of his duties by Bayern Munch with the German giants one point off the top of the table, with three defeats to their name, and in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and German cup. Bayern lost 2-1 at Leverkusen on Saturday and host table-topping Dortmund in their next match, with former Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel expected to take over.
It means Nagelsmann suddenly arrives on the managerial market as Antonio Conte's future hangs in the balance at Tottenham, with many of the club's players expecting the Italian to depart the club before their next match against Everton. Conte has not returned from Italy yet during this international break - something he often does due to the lack of first team players to work with - and his coaches Cristian Stellini and Ryan Mason have been taking charge in training.
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There may be some question marks over whether the young German, who won the Bundesliga title with Bayern last season after impressing at RB Leipzig, would want to jump straight into another job after his sudden departure from Munich.
However, if there is one club that might be able to quickly tempt Nagelsmann it could be Tottenham. football.london understands that the young coach forged a real connection with the north London team during Mauricio Pochettino's tenure and became a big fan of their style of play under the Argentine.
Nagelsmann is a believer in attacking from the front with a high pressing style and that idea was shared by Pochettino as he transformed Tottenham and turned them into a consistent top four side and took them to the Champions League final. Nagelsmann saw a kindred spirit in the Argentine and kept a keen eye on how Spurs got on.
After Pochettino's departure in 2019, Spurs placed the German high on their list of potential replacements as they did again once the man they instead chose, Jose Mourinho, was sacked in 2021. However, by then Nagelsmann's star had shot even higher than before and he was on his way to Bayern and Tottenham eventually appointed Nuno Espirito Santo and then a few months later Conte. Nagelsmann will now jump straight on to their list of candidates again.
The German has come up against Spurs before. He had set a record as the youngest coach to win a Champions League knockout tie when he overcame Mourinho's Tottenham on the way to the semi-finals that season.
There is a certain irony that both Nagelsmann and the man he admired in Pochettino are both available at the same time as Tottenham plot their next steps.
There are suggestions in Germany that rather than being sacked, Nagelsmann will be released from his duties and held to his contract for the time being.
That could be due to the belief that he will quickly find another job, thus saving them from the compensation required for ending a deal that would run until 2026. That would require any potential suitor to find a compromise figure to take him on, with Real Madrid among those who have also kept a close eye on the talented young coach in recent years as well as Pochettino.
If Spurs do decide to finally step up their own long-standing interest in Nagelsmann they cannot hang around.
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