Daniel Levy, heed this warning.
Antonio Conte has left his last three club jobs after disagreements behind the scenes over the their recruitment policy. After guiding Juventus to a third successive Serie A title in 2014, Conte bemoaned a lack of heavy spending, insisting that the Italian giants could not hope to compete with the rest of Europe’s elite if they continued to go down the route of bargain buys.
“Well, you cannot go to eat at a 100 euro restaurant with just 10 euros in your pocket, can you?” Conte quipped.
It was a similar story at Chelsea.
And, in May of last year, Conte turned his back on newly-crowned Scudetto winners Inter Milan, the club’s dire financial situation – and the sales of Romelu Lukaku and Achraf Hakimi – convincing one of the game’s most demanding tacticians that 2021/22 would be a season of transition, rather than one of consolidation, at the San Siro.
And though Spurs ended the January transfer window with two potentially excellent additions – Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur both impressed in Saturday’s 3-2 win at Manchester City – their arrival did little to deflect attention away from what was, until deadline day at least, a transfer window fraught with tension and dissatisfaction.
Will Antonio Conte leave Tottenham in the summer?
Tottenham were pipped to the post by Liverpool for Luis Diaz. The Colombian’s father even admitted Spurs panicked and stumbled with the finish line in sight.
It was a similar story with Adama Traore, snatched away from under Conte’s nose by Barcelona.
Leandro Paredes turned down Tottenham too, deciding to stay at PSG.
“I feel for Antonio Conte,” Premier League legend Ian Wright told the Ringer FC podcast.
Wright is not the first nor the last pundit to wonder whether we’ll soon be digesting an early end to Conte’s Tottenham tenure.
“Unless they’ve told him in the summer ‘we’re going to give you everything you want’ I can’t see him staying. I can’t see it,” Wright adds.
“Spurs cannot carry on how they are now, nothing happening in January, with a manager like Conte.
“A winning manager, a manager who’s aggressive and wants to win. I would be frustrated if I was him.”
Could Lautaro Martinez be heading to North London?
Should Lautaro Martinez up sticks and join Tottenham’s North London neighbours this summer transfer – reports from Italy claim that Arsenal are stepping up their pursuit of the Inter Milan striker with a bid in the region of £60 million enough to twist the Nerazzuri’s arm – Levy would be advised to batten down the hatches and prepare himself for an hurricane.
Conte has made no secret of his desire for a new number nine. One capable of easing the pressure on Harry Kane.
Lautaro turned down a £62 million move to Tottenham last summer. That was when Nuno Espirito Santo was still at the helm (Fabrizio Romano). Though the Argentine’s happy at Inter, one suspects he’d be far more tempted with Conte now patrolling the Tottenham touchline.
But a mega-money transfer doesn’t just rest upon the player’s desire to make it happen.
It also relies upon the interested party to stump up the cash required and get the deal over the line before their rivals sense an opportunity to steam in.
And this, as Conte is finding out, is often where Tottenham let themselves down.
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