I was once linked with the Tottenham job – now I could knock them out of the Carabao Cup

Tottenham Hotspur face Manchester United on Thursday in a must-win Carabao Cup fixture for both clubs but Spurs could have seen the United boss in their dugout.

Before the appointment of Ange Postecoglou, Tottenham were linked to a certain Ruben Amorim back in the summer of 2023.

The new Man United boss was flying with his Sporting Lisbon side and Spurs’ former managing director of football, Fabio Paratici, was said to be a ‘huge admirer’ of Amorim before his Old Trafford move.

Amorim had already taken four points off Tottenham in the 2022/23 Champions League campaign heightening his chances of being the replacement of Antonio Conte who eventually left in March of that season.

This came after Conte’s outburst in a press conference which put Amorim in the frame.

A move which obviously never came to fruition, but ahead of Tottenham’s meeting with United on Thursday, could Amorim prove to be the one that got away for Spurs?

Ruben Amorim had issues with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy

All was going well in the deal, with Amorim reportedly having talks with Spurs following Conte’s sacking. The Portuguese boss was even ‘willing to listen to’ Tottenham’s offer.

However, the 39-year-old’s North London move would never materialise, with Amorim reportedly put off by Daniel Levy’s ‘tempestuous temper’.

There was also a suggestion that Amorim didn’t want to leave during the season and instead seek a summer move to Tottenham, as we know now, his preference on this clearly changed when United came knocking.

With Amorim’s interest completely faded, Spurs made the summer move for Postecoglou and the deal was done, seeing the then Lisbon boss remain in Portugal.

Tottenham may regret not pursuing Ruben Amorim after recent Postecoglou struggles

It’s not a shocking revelation that Postecoglou has been struggling at Tottenham in recent times.

He’s made it clear that despite backlash surrounding his tactics, Postecoglou won’t stop pursuing his attacking approach at Tottenham and proved that to be a positive following their 5-0 thrashing against Southampton on Sunday.

However, this result only covers up the cracks of recent results with Spurs winning just two of their last six Premier League games.

Postecoglou has also made it clear that he always wins in his ‘second year’ something Amorim can put a blow to on Thursday.

Amorim will no doubt be looking for a trophy himself and if United triumph over Spurs on Thursday night, Levy may question his failure in not securing the Portuguese coach in 2023.