Tottenham linked with manager from the land of Christian Gross

The intriguing betting heat that is the next permanent Tottenham manager market has taken another fascinating turn after FC Basel boss Murat Yakin’s admission that he has received contact from White Hart Lane over the post.

Rotblau man Yakin has entered Coral’s list at a highly plausible 14/1 sixth-favourite to take the Lilywhites reigns.

Spurs’ technical coordinator Tim Sherwood heads the betting at 5/2, with Michael Laudrup and Fabio Capello (both 4/1), former boss Glenn Hoddle (6/1) and Ajax’s Frank de Boer (12/1) rounding out the first five in the betting.

A 49-cap Swiss international who turned out for the St Jakob-Park outfit at three separate junctures during his career, the Basel manager has achieved plenty since returning to the club in a managerial capacity in October 2012.

Having honed his craft during spells at Concordia, FC Thun and Luzern, Yakin steered Basel to the Swiss Super League crown after replacing Heiko Vogel.

In the Europa League he guided his side through tricky ties with Dnipro and Zenit before dumping out a Tottenham outfit managed Andre Villas-Boas, a winner of the trophy in 2010/11 with Porto.

Eventually eliminated by Chelsea at the semi-final stage, he wasted little time in gaining revenge on the west Londoners, beating them twice in the group stages of this season’s Champions League.

It was Spurs’ wish to bring in a manager with a vision for the long-term future of the club that led to the departure of Harry Redknapp and appointment of the now binned Andre Villas-Boas.

Yakin would certainly seem to fit that picture at the relatively tender managerial age of 39 and has a more impressive CV than current front-runner Sherwood.

That stands in stark contrast to Capello and Hoddle, while although Laudrup managed Swansea to a first League Cup he can hardly have been said to have kicked-on in his second season at the Liberty Stadium.