Klinsmann knows what Tottenham are missing and hints at first signing if he gets job

Jurgen Klinsmann TEAMtalk

Jurgen Klinsmann has hinted where his first signing would be if he was given the chance to succeed Jose Mourinho at Tottenham.

The former Spurs striker, who always said he felt at home in north London, has been mentioned as contender to take over from Mourinho. Daniel Levy fired Mourinho on Monday with just days to go before the Carabao Cup final. On Tuesday Levy confirmed Ryan Mason will be the club’s interim head coach until the end of the season.

He will be assisted by Ledley King, with Chris Powell and Nigel Gibbs interim assistant head coaches. Michel Vorm remains and will be interim goalkeeping coach.

Julian Nagelsmann remains the early favourites, but the RB Leipzig boss remains a target for Bayern Munich. Nagelsmann has though said he will “not go to war” with Leipzig.

While Klinsmann appears a long shot, he does have a real affinity for Spurs. The German scored 30 goals in 56 appearances for the club as a player, across two spells.

And the former USA coach has made it clear he would look for a “controlling” midfield player if he was given the job.

Last week, Klinsmann said after Spurs’ 3-1 home loss to Manchester United: “If you look at a game like today, where Paul Pogba suddenly raises the bar.

“He brings everybody to another level and his team-mates then perform accordingly.

“Spurs doesn’t have a player like him, Spurs doesn’t have a player in the middle of the park and really controlling the game.

“You could really see today in the second half,” Klismann told ESPN.


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Spurs need ‘personality’

And summing up the season, in which they have given away more points from winning positions than any other Premier League side, he added: “That’s a question of personality,” he added.

“When you are leading a game and you have to control it, dictate it, then you need leadership, you need this type of personality on the field from a couple of guys to make sure ‘we’ve put so much effort in to get the lead, score the first goal, now let’s not lose it now’.

“That’s what has happened too many times throughout the last couple of months.

“They had the lead and at the end of the day they were missing the points.

“It’s something that is part of the dressing room, it’s part of the personality of the players, there are obviously great players in the squad, there is no doubt about it. But there is a little piece missing.”

Mourinho was given the boot after a run of poor form saw Spurs drop into seventh spot. They also crashed out of the Europa League in dramatic fashion against Dinamo Zagreb last month and were knocked out of the FA Cup.

They do though have the chance to end a 13-year wait for silverware in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Manchester City, with Mason at the helm.

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