Talks to bring former Inter Milan manager Antonio Conte to Tottenham Hotspur have stalled, with Calciomercato reporting Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has concerns over the Italian’s transfer demands.
If you thought Jose Mourinho was difficult to deal with, Conte makes the preening Portuguese look a relative pushover.
This is a man who walked out on Juventus only weeks before the start of the 2014/15 season after falling out with Allianz Stadium bosses over a lack of funds.
“You cannot go to eat at a €100 restaurant with just €10 in your pocket can you?” he famously quipped (Irish Times).
Conte’s Chelsea spell unravelled in similar circumstances.
And, as recently as May, the 51-year-old stormed out of the San Siro after learning cash-strapped Inter Milan planned to break up his Scudetto-winning squad to ease their precarious financial situation.
Is Tottenham move for Conte close to collapse?
So while reports suggest Tottenham are still confident of bringing Conte back to the Premier League to replace his old nemesis Mourinho, there’s an obvious elephant in the room.
Spurs chairman Levy isn’t exactly renowned for splashing the cash.
He famously failed to sign a single player during the 2018 summer transfer window, much to the frustration of then-manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Spurs worried about former Inter boss Conte’s transfer demands
And, with Tottenham hit hard by the financial implications of the pandemic while still paying for their space-age stadium, it’s difficult to imagine Levy will give Conte the backing he wants as he looks to turn a seventh-place side into bonafide Premier League challengers.
Calciomercato reports negotiations have hit the buffers, with Conte’s transfer demands “curbing Levy’s ambition” to hand him the keys to Spurs’ training ground.
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