Speaking on the Transfer Window Podcast, journalist Duncan Castles has claimed that Antonio Conte is holding out for the PSG job amid rumours Tottenham are in deep negotiations with him.
Conte had reportedly been locked in negotiations with Spurs in recent days, but on Friday evening it was widely reported that the move was off, and Castles’ comments may provide some insight into why that is.
What’s been said?
Castles says that Conte’s camp are less than impressed by Tottenham’s offer, claiming that the Italian is waiting to see if the PSG job will come up.
“The brief from Conte’s camp is that there are problems over the proposal Levy has made to them in terms of players and recruitment of players and building a squad capable of winning titles. There are problems over the salary. Conte was on €12m net as a basic salary at Inter. Levy hasn’t offered him that,” Castles said.
“There is one other big job in European football that Conte thinks could open up and that’s PSG. Pochettino has been trying to get out of PSG, he offered himself to Real Madrid. Madrid took that seriously, PSG responded by activating a clause in his contract to extend it. The offer came from Ancelotti and Madrid took that, so Pochettino’s ambition to manage Madrid had to be put on hold. Conte is well aware that there is turmoil at PSG, that Pochettino would like to get out and he’s hoping that the PSG job will open up in time for him to take that rather than the Tottenham job.”
Disaster from Levy
Daniel Levy won’t get many opportunities to appoint a manager as talented as Conte, so he shouldn’t be lowballing him.
Of course, any chairman will want to save money wherever possible, but in this manager market, you should be giving Conte exactly what he is worth, especially if he thinks the PSG job is an option, because they likely won’t hesitate to pay him a hefty amount.
The reality is that the Italian is hard to please, causing problems with owners at both Chelsea and Inter, but he’s also one of the best coaches in the world, so you have go all-in on him if you’re serious about the appointment.
Fingers crossed Levy can iron these issues out and the deal can be salvaged, but at the moment, things don’t sound positive at all.
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