Daniel Levy’s latest proposal to Antonio Conte will not work – Our View

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Domestic football is back, and just like clockwork, rumours around Antonio Conte’s future are starting to circulate once again.

According to The Athletic, there is growing doubt within Tottenham that the Italian is going to sign a new contract as he enters the final six months of his current deal.

Meanwhile The Telegraph report that Spurs are trying to tie Conte down to a new deal by offering him a payrise of £1m-a-year.

An extra million pounds per year sounds great, doesn’t it? Who wouldn’t want that much extra cash put into their pocket?

However, in our view, it’s unlikely that this offer is going to change Conte’s stance.

Yes, £1m-a-year sounds all well and good, and in most walks of life, you would shake hands on a deal that guarantees you such a healthy payrise.

However, when you factor in that Conte is reportedly earning £15m-a-year at this point, this offer really isn’t all that alluring.

Yes, the footballing economy works differently to what we know as the real world economy, but when it comes down to brass tax, this is a payrise of barely over 6 per cent – which isn’t even in line with the ridiculous inflation rates we’ve seen in the UK and worldwide over the past year.

The reality is that, for Conte, this job isn’t about money. He made enough money to retire happily years ago. No, the Italian is in this game for glory, and if Tottenham aren’t willing to back him sufficiently in the transfer market and hand him a squad that can challenge for the top honurs in world football, he’ll look to find that elsewhere.

So often in business the solution to any problem is to throw money at it, and offering Conte a payrise is one way to tempt him into staying, but a 6% payrise for a man who has made millions working at the biggest clubs in the world for the past decade is not likely to move the needle one bit.

Rather than offering up more cash, Levy and Fabio Paratici need to present Conte with an actionable plan that will see Spurs go from pretenders to contenders over the next 12 months.