Brendan Rodgers makes strong statement on Tottenham job and warns Spurs and Big Six rivals - 7M sport

Brendan Rodgers makes strong statement on Tottenham job and warns Spurs and Big Six rivals



Posted Thursday, April 29, 2021 by Express.co.uk

Brendan Rodgers has made it clear he does not want to take the vacant Tottenham job as his Leicester project continues to flourish.

Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers appears to have definitively ruled himself out of the running to become the next Tottenham manager - and says the Foxes have the right mentality in place to be permanent challengers to the Premier League's 'Big Six'.

Rodgers is admired by the Spurs boardroom, who are on the hunt to appoint a new long-term manager at the end of the season after sacking Jose Mourinho.

Ryan Mason is taking interim charge until the end of the current campaign but could not spur the north Londoners to victory over Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final last weekend.

Spurs now face an almighty battle to secure Champions League football for next season and with their present league standing, will be headed for the newly-introduced Europa Conference League instead.

Chairman Daniel Levy has also watched one of his main candidates, RB Leipzig's Julian Nagelsmann, this week agree a deal to join Bayern Munich in the summer.

Rodgers is one of the most attractive alternatives to the German and the former Liverpool manager has enjoyed great success at Celtic and now Leicester.

Brendan Rodgers makes strong statement on Tottenham job and warns Spurs and Big Six rivals
Brendan Rodgers makes strong statement on Tottenham job and warns Spurs and Big Six rivals (Image: GETTY)

Yet the 48-year-old insists he has no interest in taking the Spurs job with Levy set to have to look elsewhere for his next appointment.

The Leicester boss is more than happy at the King Power Stadium where he is looking to take a youthful squad to silverware and make them a permanent top-four threat.

Rodgers said: "Tottenham is a great club, one of the biggest clubs in Britain but for me I'm just in a really, really happy place in my life.

"I have a huge respect here for the players, the board and I really feel that I want to continue my work here.

"I'm very, very happy here and I'm happy because I've got a set of players that give me their heart and soul every single day and also I can see a future here in terms of the development of the squad."

Brendan Rodgers makes strong statement on Tottenham job and warns Spurs and Big Six rivals
Brendan Rodgers makes strong statement on Tottenham job and warns Spurs and Big Six rivals (Image: GETTY)

Victory over Crystal Palace on Monday kept Leicester in the driving seat to seal third place in the Premier League, what would be their second-best ever finish after winning the league in 2015-16.

And beating struggling Southampton, as they did at Wembley earlier this month to set up an FA Cup final with Chelsea on May 15, on Friday would all but cement Leicester's top-four finish.

Back-to-back defeats earlier this month had prompted fears of another collapse having last season blown a 14-point lead over Manchester United to give up Champions League qualification on the final day.

But the Northern Irishman is confident Leicester have everything in place, most crucially a winning mentality, to continue fighting at the top of the table next season and beyond.

Rodgers added: "I've got really strong relationship with the board.

"We work very closely together and for me I always knew what the challenge was coming here, to try and improve the squad.

"I think over the last couple of years what we've been able to do is build an infrastructure around behaviour and creating a mindset in order to win.

Brendan Rodgers makes strong statement on Tottenham job and warns Spurs and Big Six rivals
Brendan Rodgers makes strong statement on Tottenham job and warns Spurs and Big Six rivals (Image: GETTY)

"That's not easy but it’s taken us now a couple of years and you see now the mentality around developing that will and desire to win and now for the next period of years let's see if we can roll that out now that we've created that mentality."

While Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel said to Sky Sports of Rodgers: "Brendan's come in and done wonders for us, I think he's the absolute perfect manager for us at the perfect time.

"He came in when we needed an identity, we needed to find our feet. Who were we after this amazing title win? We'd kind of been in-between a counter-attacking team and a possession team.

"We didn't quite know exactly what we were, and he's just given us a clear identity. He's been so clear in his messages and how he wants us to play.

"And it was exactly what we needed, so I can't praise him enough for the job he's done and is doing and hopefully for many years to come."



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