Nuno Espirito Santo
Former England goalkeeper Joe Hart has revealed the brutal way Nuno Espirito Santo ended his Tottenham Hotspur career. Nuno left Wolverhampton Wanderers at the end of last season and eventually became Tottenham’s new boss. He enjoyed an excellent start to life in north London with three straight Premier League wins but things unravelled rapidly and he was sacked at the beginning of November.
Joe Hart said: “They needed a lot of people out and a lot of people in. [Nuno] proceeded to call me in. I knew they were signing another goalkeeper and I was like: ‘Do we need to have a conversation?’ He said that we’d speak after training. He was like: ‘I’ll speak first. Let’s be absolutely clear, no matter what happens, you’ll not kick a ball this year.’ I had got on really well at the club, people had bought into what I was trying to bring and I was like: ‘Right, okay.’ He said you’ll be free to work with the sporting director to get yourself out. However you want to play it, play it. I said: ‘Just out of interest, remove yourself from the situation, you used to be a goalkeeper, why has it come to this? Why have I gone from being whoever I was to being completely surplus to requirements in a squad, to not even being able to back up the first-choice? Speak freely.’ He just went: ‘In my opinion, we all reach a point in our career where the body won’t allow you to play football. We’re at it now. I would not feel comfortable with you playing one minute for me. The ball’s too quick for you, you’re too old, you’re not moving, you’ve got no strength in your body.’ He literally buried me and I’m laughing because, whether I’m deluded or not, I was like, I don’t agree with any of that. I asked for your opinion, you have given it, it’s not what I wanted to hear and I am going to have to take myself out of this situation. I literally went home and I am completely baffled here, I think I’m done, I can’t be (expletive) anymore. I can’t sit in a room anymore and have that said to me by him.”
