Tottenham could face an issue if they manage to persuade Arne Slot to leave Feyenoord this summer, with the Dutchman’s assistant John de Wolf not keen on joining him in the Premier League. The north Londoners have identified Slot as a leading candidate to succeed Antonio Conte, but they will have to wait until the conclusion of the Eredivisie title race, with Feyenoord crowned champions on Sunday with two games to spare. Slot has reportedly been offered a sizeable £3m-a-year new deal to remain at the club, and De Wolf has made it clear that he has no desire to leave Feyenoord. When asked about the speculation linking Slot with a move to Spurs, De Wolf told NPO’s Taxi Castricum show: ‘We haven’t talked about that at all. I once said [to Slot] in the early stages, don’t listen to any other club in the Netherlands anyway.’ When probed further on whether he would go to Tottenham if Slot asked him, De Wolf replied: ‘I would wish him good luck [at Spurs]. But this is my club, this is where I belong, this is my home. I still get goosebumps every day when I drive over the bridge [to training].’
De Wolf was born and raised in Rotterdam and played for Sparta and then Feyenoord between 1989 and 1994 before spending a brief time in England with Wolves. He reflected on his time in England in an interview with The Athletic in 2019, saying: ‘It was a different league to adapt to. I was a big, strong player in Holland but when I came to Wolves, I couldn’t believe how hard they trained! So physical. You can either do nothing — or you must do more. So I did extra work at the gym three times a week. The defending was different. In Holland, if an opposition left-winger has the ball against the right-back, as a central defender you support him. In England, they said stay in front of the box, stay there. It was different, normally you want to help him. Long balls too. But it was fantastic.’ It appears that De Wolf is determined to remain in the Netherlands and not follow Slot to Tottenham if he takes the job.