The China Mail - Igor Tudor hired as Tottenham interim manager

Former Juventus boss Tudor replaces Thomas Frank, who was sacked on Wednesday with Tottenham languishing only five points above the Premier League relegation zone.

The Croatian and Tottenham's hierarchy reached a verbal agreement on Friday and the deal has now been rubber-stamped.

"It is an honour to join this club at an important moment," Tudor said.

"I understand the responsibility I have been handed and my focus is clear. To bring greater consistency to our performances and compete with conviction in every match.

"There is strong quality in this playing squad, and my job is to organise it, energise it and improve our results quickly."

At Juventus, Tudor inherited a team that sat outside the Champions League places late in the 2024-25 campaign, but he guided them to a fourth-place finish after losing just one of his first 11 games in charge.

He was unable to replicate that form this season and paid the price.

The 47-year-old was dismissed in October after an eight-match winless run left the Italian club struggling in eighth place in Serie A.

Tudor has also had spells in charge of Lazio, Marseille, Verona, Hajduk Split, Galatasaray and Udinese.

The former Croatia defender will be tasked with cleaning up the mess left by Frank, who was sacked one day after a 2-1 defeat against Newcastle on Tuesday.

Frank, hired from Brentford last year after Ange Postecoglou's sacking, was removed after a miserable run of two wins in 17 league games.

Tottenham's players have been given time off until Monday due to the club being without a weekend match after their FA Cup exit in January.

Opting for a temporary boss follows the template used by Manchester United, who hired Michael Carrick until the end of the season after dismissing Ruben Amorim.

Tottenham had also been linked with former Borussia Dortmund manager Edin Terzic and ex-RB Leipzig boss Marco Rose prior to reports of their agreement with Tudor.

Candidates for the permanent Tottenham job are likely to include their former manager Mauricio Pochettino after his United States commitments at the World Cup in June and July.

Tottenham's next match is the north London derby at home to Premier League leaders Arsenal on February 22.

C.Smith--ThChM