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Louis van Gaal has moved to the top of Tottenham’s wanted list.

The 62-year-old Dutchman is currently in charge of Holland and his highly-successful track record at has impressed the Tottenham board.

Van Gaal has won domestic and European trophies at Ajax, AZ Alkmaar, Bayern Munich and Barcelona.

A key issue for Spurs is when Van Gaal can be recruited. He is committed to leading Holland to next summer’s World Cup finals but there are few international commitments before then.

Holland have just two friendlies. The issue will be whether the Dutch FA will consider a job share approach.

Van Gaal has gone on record to state that his one remaining ambition is to lead a top English club. If he has to stay solely in the Holland job a caretaker like Tim Sherwood could be asked to step in until the end of the season.

Chairman Daniel Levy and his board will now take their time to ensure the next appointment is the right one following the dismissal of Andre Villas-Boas six days ago.

Levy is also set to review the performance of Technical Director Franco Baldini.

It has been suggested that one of the major problems for Villas-Boas was that Baldini signed players without the knowledge of the Portuguese manager. And the huge £30 million outlay on Erik Lamela from Roma has seemed a questionable investment.

A figure as experienced and with the personality of Van Gaal would not welcome any such interference .

Levy and his board are also frustrated at the suggestions they have ignored the wishes of the fans who are demanding more transparency from the hierarchy regarding the hiring and firing of managers.

A source close to the board said: “That is just not true. There is regular contact between the board and the Tottenham Supporters Trust over all sorts of issues.

“The opinions of the fans are absorbed and are regarded as very important. When the time is right, they will go public with their plans. But the time is not right at the moment. It would be unwise to let everyone know what your intentions are while they try to get the man they want. It would be like letting other clubs know what players you are after in the transfer market.”