LUIS ENRIQUE has yet to manage in England – but there’s been no shortage of opportunity.
The Spaniard, 55, guided Paris Saint-Germain to a maiden Champions League triumph on Saturday night.
GettyLuis Enrique led PSG to a first ever Champions League triumph[/caption]
GettyThe Spaniard has previously claimed he would like to manage in England[/caption]
GettyThree big Prem clubs passed up on the chance to hire him in 2023[/caption]
Enrique‘s exciting young side tore Inter Milan to pieces at Munich’s Allianz Arena.
The Serie A giants were no match for the French champions, who ran out emphatic 5-0 winners.
It was Enrique’s second Champions League winners medal, after guiding Barcelona to the crown a decade ago.
And some Prem clubs may be wondering what could have been after passing up on the Spaniard.
Enrique publicly expressed his desire to work in England in 2023, admitting: “I have a special attraction – I would like to go to England to work.
“I follow English football a lot, more than Spanish football.
“In the Spanish league, I do follow the biggest teams and little else – but it’s very difficult for it to happen.”
Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham all shortlisted Enrique after he left his role with Spain in 2023.
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But all three decided against hiring the 55-year-old.
Tottenham were the most serious contenders, prior to opting for Ange Postecoglou.
It is believed chairman Daniel Levy backed off over a concern that Enrique’s spiky temperament made him too similar to former boss Antonio Conte.
Three other clubs in the EFL have also moved for Enrique and offered him a managerial role.
Swansea, Leeds and Aston Villa all wanted the former Spain international to join, per the BBC’s Guillem Balague.
And even Arsenal were given a tip-off about Enrique – by ex-chief Unai Emery.
But the Gunners decided to go another way, with fellow Spaniard Mikel Arteta still in charge at the Emirates.
The one that got away
By DAVE KIDD
THERE was one pressing question to ask in the wake of the greatest demolition job in the 70-year history of European Cup finals.
What of Luis Enrique’s ‘Tottenham dream’?
After Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain side handed out a 5-0 hiding to Inter Milan in Munich’s Allianz Arena on Saturday, the Spaniard confirmed himself as one of the great managers of the modern era
It wasn’t just that Enrique had secured the Champions League with a second club — ten years after he masterminded Barcelona’s victory over Juventus.
It was the manner in which he had constructed this young, vibrant, united PSG side in the wake of the French club’s ‘bling, bling’ era of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
Enrique, 55, was strongly linked with vacancies at Spurs, Chelsea and Manchester United in 2023, after leaving his job as Spain’s national team manager.
Before Tottenham appointed Ange Postecoglou, Enrique was a serious contender, yet there is a belief that chairman Daniel Levy backed off over a concern that his spiky temperament made him too similar to Antonio Conte.
Charismatic, tactically astute and an inspirational man-manager, Enrique speaks good English and is a devotee of Premier League football.
Yet it’s fair to say, after his crowning glory in Bavaria, that Enrique will not be turning up on our shores any time soon.
Should Spurs ditch Postecoglou this week, Enrique certainly won’t be in the running. After all, he is openly talking of conquering the world with the perennial champions of France.
PSG will face Spurs in the European Super Cup in the Italian city of Udine in August — as one of the greatest winners of the Champions League take on possibly the worst winners of the Europa League in what promises to be an epic mismatch.
Enrique’s PSG contract runs until 2027, club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi would like to extend it, while this team are young enough and good enough to be a dominant force in European football for years to come.
Saturday was an emotionally-charged night for Enrique, whose bond with PSG supporters was strengthened by their unfurling of a vast tifo showing a picture of him and his late daughter Xana, who tragically died from bone cancer aged just nine in 2019.
His team’s brilliant performance had been the most complete by any side in a Champions League final since Guardiola’s Barca defeated Manchester United 3-1 in a Wembley masterclass in 2011.
PSG were the youngest team in the competition, Simone Inzaghi’s Inter the oldest — and the match turned into the comprehensive street mugging of a frail, elderly victim.
That five-goal winning margin eclipsed the 7-3 victory of Ferenc Puskas and Alfredo Di Stefano’s Real Madrid against Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960 — a match played so long ago that Sir Alex Ferguson watched it at Hampden Park as an awestruck teenager.
Enrique, known as The Architect in the French capital, has plotted plenty of English doom this year.
PSG defeated Manchester City in the group phase, followed by knockout victories over Liverpool on penalties, Aston Villa and Arsenal.
After semi-final success against Mikel Arteta’s Gunners, Enrique mocked the supposed low standing of France’s domestic league.
“The league of farmers, no?” he smiled, “We are the league of farmers.”
There has been nothing even faintly agricultural about PSG’s football and Enrique is determined to stick around to harvest more silverware.
While the world’s finest players rarely operate in England at their peak, our top-flight has played host to every other modern managerial great.
Three more men have led two different clubs to the Champions League crown in the 21st Century — Carlo Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola — and all have plied their trade in England, along with other A-listers like Jurgen Klopp and Conte.
Instead, Enrique headed to Paris, where, despite billions of Qatari oil money having been lavished on the project, the Champions League remained elusive.
Enrique’s re-imagining of PSG as a young side without Galacticos but with plenty of team spirit has turned out a triumph, although another shedload of cash has been spent.
This season’s signings of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Desire Doue, Joao Neves and Willian Pacho — all stars of the final — cost the Qataris almost £200million.
Doue was the two-goal hero, Enrique substituting him when he looked on course to become the first player in 56 years to score a hat-trick in a European Cup final.
And when Kvaratskhelia sprinted back more than half the length of the pitch to win possession, with ten minutes to go, having just fired PSG into a 4-0 lead, Enrique’s PSG makeover felt complete.
It is impossible to have imagined Mbappe, Messi or Neymar doing anything similar.
And so for Enrique, the idea of managing Spurs — or any other Premier League club — is just going to have to wait.
Enrique has thrived since returning to club management with PSG in 2023.
He had previously spent five years as Spain’s national manager.
Enrique has won back-to-back Ligue 1 and Coupe de France titles in France.
Known as The Architect in the French capital, he has helped bring about plenty of English doom over the course of the last year.
PSG defeated Manchester City in the group phase, followed by knockout victories over Liverpool on penalties, Aston Villa and Arsenal.
And he is now a hero among PSG supporters after delivering a first Champions League trophy.
Fans unveiled a tifo at the Allianz Arena of Enrique’s daughter Xana, who died in 2019 aged nine from bone cancer.
Visibly moved, Enrique said: “It’s lovely from the fans, and for my family.
“But I don’t need to win a Champions League to remember my daughter.
“She’s always present, with us. I feel it when we lose, too, it crystallises all the positives we lived.“
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