A fresh claim on Graham Potter to Spurs has emerged this week...
What's the word?
The Brighton manager sits high on technical director Steve Hitchen's shortlist, according to the Daily Mail, who also claimed that he has other admirers within the Lilywhites' hierarchy.
Ever-reliable football.london journalist Alasdair Gold added fuel to the fire on Thursday afternoon with an intriguing bit of information as he tweeted: "Told a number of the Spurs players had a lasting impression left on them by the style of Brighton's play and would be happy if Graham Potter was pursued to become the club's next manager."
He also suggested that the 45-year-old has caught the eye of the club's decision-makers with his brand of football, which would correlate well with the report from the Daily Mail.
Pochettino 2.0
It's thought that Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy wants his next appointment to be 'attack-minded' with a strong focus on developing young players - i.e. not too dissimilar to Mauricio Pochettino, as per The Guardian.
This has been reinforced by The Athletic's Jack Pitt-Brooke, who claimed that Spurs are looking for a "Pochettino-style coach", and that's where Potter fits the bill.
The Argentine was poached from a smaller Premier League club in Southampton but was known for his high-pressing tactics, a similar system and train of thought to the former Swansea man on the south coast.
Whilst Brighton's results have been underwhelming and rather disappointing - only the bottom three have won fewer games - their performances have been worthy of better returns.
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As outlined by The Athletic, Potter rates out as one of the best coaches in the top-flight, scoring 97 out of 100 for their coaching performance ranking system. He favours a possession-based system with plenty of build-up play and focus on dominating the final third through an overload on the wings and an intense press.
Potter has also trusted his youth, meeting another one of Spurs' mooted criteria. Brighton have the fourth-youngest weighted average age (minutes played multiplied by age for all players) at 26.
Sat in 14th place, the Seagulls also have the best defensive record of any team 11th or below and have only conceded one goal more than Spurs this season - given that defensive mistakes have been a recurring theme, that's quite impressive.
Back in January, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was left blown away by Potter and his side. The Spaniard dubbed him "the best English manager right now" and claimed: "You have to be a top side to play that way. As a spectator, I like to watch these teams. I like watching Brighton play. I recognise it. When I was a football player, I would love to play in this team."
There's no denying that Potter would be a massive gamble but the same would've been said about Pochettino swapping the comfort of St Mary's for a team competing in Europe.
The 45-year-old is perhaps as close to Pochettino 2.0 as Levy is going to get, so if that's the criteria, then he has to be considered.
AND in other news, Levy could deal Spurs a terrifying blow by hiring "stubborn" 62 y/o who has "no plan B"...