Tottenham have sacked Jose Mourinho with the club on course to miss out on Champions League football this season.
Mourinho, 58, replaced Mauricio Pochettino in November 2019 but has now been dismissed after a dismal domestic campaign and failure in the Europa League.
The bombshell axing comes less than a week before Tottenham are set to take on Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.
A statement from the club read: ‘The Club can today announce that Jose Mourinho and his coaching staff Joao Sacramento, Nuno Santos, Carlos Lalin and Giovanni Cerra have been relieved of their duties.’
Chairman Daniel Levy said: ‘Jose and his coaching staff have been with us through some of our most challenging times as a Club.
‘Jose is a true professional who showed enormous resilience during the pandemic. On a personal level I have enjoyed working with him and regret that things have not worked out as we both had envisaged.
‘He will always be welcome here and we should like to thank him and his coaching staff for their contribution.’
Mourinho is in line for a huge pay-off in the region of £23million after his sacking.
It is understood that Mourinho’s basic salary stands at £10.5m, although it may be worth up to £15m with bonuses.
It has been claimed that coaches Ryan Mason and Chris Powell are set to take the reins for the rest of the season.
The club confirmed in their statement that Mason, the former Tottenham and Hull City midfielder, will take charge of first-team training today.
The search has now begun for a permanent successor to Mourinho, who came under heavy fire for limp displays this campaign, with an appointment likely this summer.
RB Leipzig boss Julian Nagelsmann has been identified as the favourite to take over.
Tottenham have been long-term admirers of Nagelsmann, who is widely deemed as one of the most talented young coaches in world football.
It is believed that Naglesmann, 33, was under consideration for the Spurs hot seat after Pochettino’s departure in 2019, although Mourinho was later handed the job.
Leipzig will not allow Nagelsmann to leave this summer, however, without receiving a compensation package worth £17million.
Former Manchester United and Real Madrid coach Mourinho’s last game in charge at Tottenham came in the 2-2 draw against Everton on Friday.
Despite Harry Kane’s late leveller at Goodison Park, the dropped points dealt a major blow to their hopes of securing a spot in the Champions League.
Tottenham are languishing in seventh place in the Premier League standings, five points adrift of fourth, and Levy has now pulled the trigger.
The cup final next weekend represents a chance for Spurs to lift silverware for the first time since their triumph in the same competition in 2008.
Mourinho will no longer be in charge for it, though, with little tangible progress made across over the last season and a half.
He could only guide Tottenham to a sixth-placed finish during his first campaign in charge, albeit after taking over halfway through.
This term has been a step back, with the north London outfit knocked out of Europe in humiliating fashion by Dinamo Zagreb and reeling from other poor results.
Mourinho’s final weeks at the helm were marred by swipes in the press and constant criticism of his own players.
For the first time in his managerial career, Mourinho was made to suffer 10 league defeats in a single season.
The on-field misery also saw Tottenham drop 20 points from winning positions this season. No other top-flight club has lost more when leading.
