Former Chelsea, Juventus and Inter Milan manager Antonio Conte is expected to sign a short-term contract as manager of Tottenham Hotspur until the end of next season, as reported by Tuttomercatoweb.
It really is a funny old game.
Just four months ago Conte went public, leaving no one in doubt why he rejected the chance to succeed his old adversary Jose Mourinho in the Tottenham Hotspur hot seat.
“Generally, I like the challenges and I’ve accepted many of them during my career,” Conte, who has won the league title in five of his six seasons as a club coach, told Gazzetta dello Sport.
“Even the top clubs I coached were never the favourites when I arrived. However, if there’s something that doesn’t convince me, I prefer not to accept – regardless of the money.”
Why does Antonio Conte want the Tottenham manager’s job now?
What was it about Spurs that “didn’t convince” one of the finest coaching minds in world football? Was it a lack of spending power?
It’s no secret Conte fell out with his superiors at Inter Milan and Chelsea because of what he deemed lack of ambition in the transfer market.
And it’s fair to say Daniel Levy isn’t renowned for throwing cash around willy-nilly.
Perhaps with Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and arguably Arsenal looking far stronger right now than a side that reached the Champions League final just two years ago, Conte also felt adding another piece of silverware to a remarkable CV would be easier said than done in north London.
Either way, something seems to have changed.
Because, according to Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, Conte is about to perform the most dramatic of U-turns. Talks between the 52-year-old and Spurs are understood to be in the “final stages”.
What’s more, Tuttomercatoweb claims a contract until summer 2023 is on the table that, interestingly, is shorter than the two-year deal Nuno Espirito Santo signed in July.
But Conte was never likely to be a long-term solution; Tottenham’s 21st century answer to Arsene Wenger.
This is a guy who swaggers through the door like Clint Eastwood strutting into a saloon, spends a bucketload of cash, wins a trophy or two and then rides off into the sunset, sometimes leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.
Would that trend continue at Tottenham?
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