Crystal Palace shift focus to manager who was close to Tottenham

Gennaro Gattuso, Paulo Fonseca TEAMtalk

Paulo Fonseca could yet get the chance to manage in the Premier League despite his move to Tottenham Hotspur collapsing, according to reports in Italy.

Fonseca looked all set to be announced as the successor to Jose Mourinho at Tottenham recently. It would have been an intriguing appointment, as Mourinho has taken his old job at Roma. But the essential swap will not be happening after talks between Fonseca and Spurs collapsed.

Managing director Fabio Paratici shifted his focus to Gennaro Gattuso when the former Italy midfielder left Fiorentina before even taking charge recently. But after receiving some backlash over that potential appointment, Spurs dropped their interest in Gattuso too.

It meant a summer of being close to finding a new manager to take them in a different direction, only for those deals to fall through, continued for Tottenham.

The situation is all too familiar to fellow London club Crystal Palace. They too have seen a number of manager candidates fall from their grasp at the last hurdle since trying to replace Roy Hodgson.

Palace most recently were close to appointing Lucien Favre, before the former Borussia Dortmund boss had a change of heart. He now wants to take more time out of the game, sending Palace back to square one.

They have already had similar dilemmas in previous pursuits of Frank Lampard and Nuno Espirito Santo in recent months.

But now, they could move on to another new candidate – none other than Fonseca.

 

According to Corriere Dello Sport, they are interested in the Portuguese coach. He has the kind of attacking philosophy that the club want to see to take them forward into a new era.

Palace face competition for Fonseca

However, the 48-year-old is also attracting interest from Fiorentina, who still need to find someone to replace fellow ex-Tottenham candidate Gattuso.

The Serie A side looked at Fonseca before targeting Spezia’s Vincenzo Italiano instead. That pursuit has hit a roadblock, so they have shifted their focus back to the ex-Shakhtar Donetsk boss.


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Therefore, Palace may have to act fast if they are to secure Fonseca’s signature. With options running out, he may be one of the best they can find.

Fonseca was actually on a lower salary at Roma than Hodgson was at Selhurst Park last season. If they can find an economical agreement, it may be an interesting appointment.

But whoever takes over at Palace has their work cut out for them due to the size of the rebuild needed. Several players are out of contract and value-for-money replacements will need to be unearthed.

That task has already put off some other options for Palace, who will be hoping to find someone willing to take it on.

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