Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad appoint ex-Spurs Boss Espirito Santo as manager

Nuno Espirito Santo is back in football management with Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad, where he has signed a two-year contract, eight months after being fired by Tottenham.

The Portuguese manager had a challenging time leading Spurs after his four-year tenure at Wolves ended at the conclusion of the 2020/2021 season. His exalted appointment as Spurs was barely four months old when his glorious start in the Tottenham dugout turned sour.

The decision to sack the Portuguese was made following a 3-0 home loss to Manchester United in November last year, at a match during which fans showed their displeasure. Club chairman Daniel Levy and managing director of football Fabio Paratici met to discuss Nuno’s and by the following day, the decision was relayed to Nuno at Tottenham’s training complex.

Nuno was unable to maintain his promising start to the season, in which he led Tottenham to their best start to a Premier League season, with three wins in their first three games. He, however, followed that with five losses of ten subsequent Premier League games.

He takes over Al-Ittihad, the professional football team established in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 1927, which has played its whole history in Saudi Arabia’s top division of football. Their stadium, which is the country’s second-largest stadium, has a capacity of 62,000 spectators.