Tottenham Hotspur fires soccer coach Jose Mourinho

LONDON (UPI) — Tottenham Hotspur fired manager Jose Mourinho on Monday and started a search for his replacement, the Premier League soccer team announced.

The Spurs fired four assistants — Joao Sacramento, Nuno Santos, Carlos Lalin, and Giovanni Cerra — in addition to Mourinho. Mourinho coached at Tottenham for 17 months.

“Jose and his coaching staff have been with us through some of our most challenging times as a club,” Spurs chairman Daniel Levy said in a news release. “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 managed at Manchester United, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Porto, Uniao de Leiria and Benfica from 2000 through 2018. Tottenham hired Mourinho in November 2019 to replace fired manager Mauricio Pochettino.

Ryan Mason will manage the team at training Monday in London. Spurs said additional updates will follow “in due course.”

Spurs were among a dozen of Europe’s top teams to announce Sunday that they plan to form a new European Super League. Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea were among the other Premier League teams to announce plans to join the Super League.

AC Milan, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Internazionale, Juventus and Real Madrid were among the other European teams to issue statements about the potential league change.

Spurs are seventh in the Premier League standings. They battle Southampton in Premier League play Wednesday and face Manchester City in the EFL Cup final Sunday in London.

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