Where next for Tottenham in their quest to find a new manager?

Two months have passed since Jose Mourinho was sacked by Tottenham and somehow the club are seemingly no closer to appointing his successor.

Is it because Daniel Levy refuses to compromise? Are Spurs actually not as attractive a club as they first thought? Or are all of their candidates allergic to dog hair and have subsequently refused to stand in the same technical area as the Dulux dog? Who knows, but one thing which we definitely know is Spurs are in a mess.

Levy's original plan to name a new boss before the end of the season has gone up in smoke and with Julian Nagelsmann, Brendan Rodgers, Erik ten Hag, Antonio Conte, Paulo Fonseca and Gennaro Gattuso all crossed off the Tottenham chairman's wish list, things are starting to look desperate.

Although, things may might not be as bad as we think. Rumour has it, there are a couple of managers somewhere in the world who Spurs are yet to contact and so they may yet be able to appoint a new boss before the start of the season.

Julen Lopetegui is a name that has never really been at the forefront of the discourse surrounding who the club should approach next despite numerous mentions, and it's hard to argue with the job he's done at Sevilla over the last couple of seasons.

However, the Spaniard's track record when it comes to winning trophies is not very impressive given some of the clubs he's managed and, while a 'win at all costs' manager like Mourinho clearly didn't work out, it's difficult to believe Lopetegui is the right man for Spurs at this moment in time.

Rafael Benitez is another mooted to possibly be on his way back to the Premier League, yet a move to Everton seems highly unlikely given the backlash already caused by their rumoured talks with the former Liverpool boss.

Could he be an option for Spurs? To put it bluntly, no. Benitez is basically a diluted Mourinho - boring, pragmatic football, but you'll probably win a trophy or two along the way. If Mourinho wasn't the answer then Benitez definitely isn't.

A lot of the talk surrounding Spurs' manager hunt has centred around the fact the new boss needs to be able to tap into the club's philosophy and play 'the Tottenham way' (which as far as we can see means they just have to look good at times but never win anything).

Finding a manager who can provide the right blend of so-called 'attractive football' as well as putting trophies in the cabinet is a tall order - and if such a boss existed they'd be unlikely to end up at Spurs in all honesty - though Belgium head coach Roberto Martinez may be one of their best options.

While Martinez massively flopped at Everton, he's overcome the odds in guiding Swansea and Wigan to silverware and given the quality of the players he's been coaching at Belgium for nearly five years, you'd expect him to have developed as a coach since his poor stint with the Toffees.

Another name on the list of candidates that's already been mentioned in this article is Ajax boss Ten Hag. Despite signing a new deal at the club, rumours that Spurs could still try to tempt him to north London have continued to circulate.

Like Martinez, Ten Hag would certainly fit the bill with regards to the style of play Levy is looking to bring to the club, while he's also won two league and cup doubles since moving to the Dutch giants - it's hardly winning the Premier League with Leicester type stuff, but impressive nonetheless.

Finding this perfect manager who's going to bring fluid, attacking football to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and guide them to multiple pieces of silverware while working on a relatively shoestring budget is going to be impossible, so Spurs need to lower their expectations.

Pursuits of either Martinez or Ten Hag would bring with them some issues, with the Ajax boss having recently signed a new deal and Martinez currently managing the Red Devils at Euro 2020 and thus probably won't be available for some time.

That being said, Spurs aren't a position to be picky if they want to allow their new boss as much time as possible to assess his squad before adding to it where necessary, and Martinez and Ten Hag look to be the most suited bosses out there right now.