Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Tottenham held talks with Ernesto Valverde last week about becoming the club's next manager.

Over two months have passed since Tottenham decided to sack Jose Mourinho just six days before their Carabao Cup final with Manchester City. The club have still not appointed his replacement.

It appeared that they were on the brink of announcing former Roma manager Paulo Fonseca as their new coach last week, but they pulled the plug at the last minute and decided to pursue Gennaro Gattuso instead. 

However, their interest in the 43-year-old did not last long, as following a major backlash from the club's supporters, Tottenham decided against bringing in Gattuso.

All this means that Spurs seem to be back to square one, but Romano has claimed that they have already identified other options to look into who could succeed Mourinho.

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What did Romano say about Valverde?

One manager who Tottenham are believed to be keen on is Valverde. Romano is certain that the north London club reached out to the 57-year-old last week, but clarified that the experienced coach is not the only candidate in the running for the role.

He said on The Here We Go Podcast“I will tell you one thing. I’m 100% sure that one of the managers contacted last week was Ernesto Valverde – former Barcelona manager. They opened talks with him, but he’s not the only option. They have three or four options, so it’s really open and let’s see what Tottenham will decide."

What is Valverde's pedigree?

Valverde has spent the majority of his 19-year managerial career in his homeland of Spain, but he has also had two separate spells at Olympiacos.

During his time in Greece, he won the league three times and lifted two domestic cups. However, he is arguably best known for his work with Barcelona.

In his two-and-a-half year stay with the Catalan giants, he picked up two La Liga titles and the Copa del Rey to take his career total of trophies to 10, including Super Cups.

He failed to get things right in Europe, though, as Barcelona suffered dramatic comeback defeats against Roma and Liverpool in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

Would Valverde be a good appointment for Tottenham?

Valverde would certainly bring a vast amount of experience with him to the club, and he has managed at the highest level. Indeed, while Barcelona did disappoint in Europe under Valverde, they only lost 16 of their 145 matches in all competitions when he was in the dugout, suggesting that he did an impressive job overall.

Since being relieved of his duties in January 2020, Valverde has been out of work for almost 18 months. Some may argue that this could be a positive for Spurs, as this time away from the game may have allowed the Spanish manager to recharge his batteries so that he is ready to make a major impact at his next club.

However, another way of looking at things is that perhaps Valverde has been left on the sidelines for a reason, with his best coaching days potentially behind him.

Tottenham will have to figure out if Valverde is worth pursuing further, because after over nine weeks of searching for their next manager they cannot afford to get this appointment wrong.