Igor Tudor has reached a verbal agreement to take over as Tottenham Hotspur’s interim head coach until the end of the season, stepping into a club in crisis and a dressing room in need of direction.

Final contractual details are still being ironed out with the former Juventus boss, but both parties are understood to be aligned on the short-term mandate. Tudor, who has been in London for talks, is expected to return briefly to Croatia before taking charge of training early next week, ahead of a high-stakes north London derby against Premier League leaders Arsenal.

He inherits a Spurs side in alarming decline. Tottenham sit 16th in the Premier League, just five points clear of the relegation zone, and have won only two of their last 17 league matches. The slide cost Thomas Frank his job after a damaging home defeat to Newcastle, with the Dane dismissed less than 24 hours later.

Tottenham’s hierarchy view Tudor as a specialist in short-term stabilisation. The 47-year-old has built a reputation for imposing structure and intensity quickly, often in turbulent circumstances. At Juventus, he took over a side reeling from cup exits and league setbacks, lifting them from fifth to fourth in Serie A and securing Champions League qualification with just one defeat in 11 matches.

That turnaround earned him a longer contract in Turin, though his spell ended abruptly when form dipped the following season. A similar pattern emerged at Lazio, where he replaced Maurizio Sarri with the club languishing in mid-table. Tudor delivered five wins in nine league games, steering Lazio to seventh and into the Europa League before resigning at the end of the campaign.

His broader CV includes stints at Marseille, Galatasaray and Udinese, where he consistently favoured aggressive pressing, compact defensive lines and rapid transitions. Those qualities are precisely what Tottenham’s board believe the current squad has been lacking during a disjointed and fragile campaign.

Spurs intend to conduct a full search for a permanent head coach in the summer, with Tudor’s role clearly defined as interim. For now, his task is stark: halt the slide, restore belief and navigate a daunting run of fixtures that could determine whether Tottenham’s season ends in safety or catastrophe.