A serial winner with Premier League success on his CV, a single-minded disciplinarian and an astute tactician. It is easy to see why Tottenham Hotspur are chasing Antonio Conte to be their new manager.
The former Chelsea and Inter Milan boss is on the verge of succeeding Nuno Espirito Santo, who was sacked by Spurs on Monday after just four fractious months in the job.
It would complete a fascinating turnaround from the summer, when the Italian spurned Spurs’ advances to become their manager, paving the way for Nuno’s eventual appointment.
But with an out-of-form squad, a lack of recent investment and a star player who was eager to leave in the summer, perhaps the more pertinent question is why would Conte want to join Tottenham now?
Conte has developed a reputation as a manager who demands money to spend on improving his squad but at Tottenham he would team up with a chairman, Daniel Levy, who has developed a reputation as a prudent businessman who is reluctant to spend the kind of fees paid by the Premier League’s leading clubs.
“The terms must have changed,” former Norwich and Blackburn striker Chris Sutton told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club, referring to Conte’s aborted summer switch to Tottenham.
“He isn’t going to go to Spurs unless he feels he can win something or come close because he is not that type of manager. He is not coming to the end of his career. He wants to come in and transform the club.
“Spurs aren’t doing Conte a favour, Conte is doing Spurs a favour.”
New York Times football writer Rory Smith suggested a possible reason common ground might have been reached between the two parties: money.
“As much as Conte is a brilliant manager, that comes at a cost,” he said. “That is that he complains constantly that there is not enough resources being given to him in terms of the players.
“Maybe Spurs have gone back to him and said ‘we are in more of a pickle than we thought so maybe we can talk about different targets in the transfer market’?
“But that is unlikely as I don’t think Spurs are flush with cash and aren’t likely to go spending £200m in the summer.
“The only other possibility is that Conte’s hand is strengthened because Spurs have won five and lost five in the league and they have offered to pay him more.”
“There are two things that for me don’t fully make sense,” said Italian journalist Gabriele Marcotti.
“One is that it is reportedly an 18-month deal. That seems strange when you are talking a project and long term, manager security and clout.
“The other obvious thing is that you look at why Conte has left his previous jobs.
“He left Inter [at the end of last season] because they couldn’t invest money and they sold his best players. He left Chelsea because he couldn’t get owner Roman Abramovich to spend more money on players he wanted.
“You’ve heard the famous line about him leaving Juventus when he said ‘they wanted me to eat out in a 100 euros restaurant with 10 euros in my pocket’. They weren’t delivering in the market.
“You think of all the owners in the Premier League and the most likely to be cautious with his money is Levy. It is completely counter-intuitive.” BBC
