Tottenham interested in Frank de Boer

Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Speculation on who will take the reigns in the summer at White Hart Lane continue, this time with rumors beginning to circulate that Tottenham are gaining interest in current Ajax manager Frank de Boer and may have even made a formal approach for the former Dutch legend.  Under his stewardship, the Amsterdam giants have won three league titles in a row and have wrestled total control of domestic affairs back into their possession – is it time for de Boer to challenge himself on a bigger stage, and if so, would Spurs be the right destination?

Being born and bred as a footballer at the famed Ajax academy, de Boer has a fantastic knowledge in regards to training methods, fitness, attacking football and the ability to blend youth into his sides.  His experience on the staff of the Dutch national team under Bert van Marwijk exposed him to dealing with super stars and the tricky task of managing their needs, wants and ego’s.  With playing personnel that are craving a manager who truly lets the leash off and allow expressive and free-flowing attacking football, de Boer could easily be a success story right out of the gate in his first season should he swap the Dutch capital for London.

For all the positives on the surface, de Boer does not come without risks.  To be Frank (and yes, that pun was intentional), his managerial career has only been in the Eredivisie, which is a league that has fallen substantially when it comes to quality in comparison to other leagues in Europe.  While a club can dominate domestically in a league where apart from Ajax, there are really never more than two challengers for the title at any given moment, de Boer has truly yet to be tested as a manager and we have seen what the BPL can do to a manager who is ill-prepared for the task.  He has also never had to deal with expectations of spending large sums in the transfer window, as Ajax are a club that prides itself (and rightfully so) of promoting heavily from within the club.

Despite the initial challenges, de Boer could take solace in the fact that he would already have playing personnel at Spurs that he has worked with before in the form of Christian Eriksen and Jan Vertonghen.  Nacer Chadli came to Spurs from FC Twente and while de Boer will not have managed him, he will have managed against him and that would help him bring the best out of the Belgian winger.  Tottenham also have a crop of young players who are increasingly proving to be ready for first team football, who better to help push those players than an Ajax man?  And finally, de Boer has experience working with classic target men in the way of Siem de Jong and Kolbeinn Sigþórsson, which in turn would help him bring the best out of Roberto Soldado where others have failed.

Let us be honest here and realize that it would be a coup of massive proportions that would allow Spurs to successfully capture de Boer as their next manager.  His love of Ajax and fantastic success thus far will be hard to leave.  There is also narrative circulating that he may in fact be holding out for a chance to land the job at Barcelona should it become available.  Unfortunately for Tottenham, the de Boer bus will most likely leave them at the corner in the rain, but Spurs are correct in going after a Dutchman for their next manager.  With Ronald Koeman officially no longer manager at Feyenoord Rotterdam and rumors that Louis van Gaal to Manchester United have stalled, perhaps Spurs can still add a bit of Oranje at the Lane.