By Samindra Kunti
November 2 – Italy’s Antonio Conte has become the Tottenham Hotspur manager on a contract reportedly worth £20 million and taking him through to June 2023. He replaces Nuno Espírito Santo, the London club’s second consecutive Portuguese coach to be sacked.
Jose Mourinho lasted 17 months, his compatriot and successor just 17 matches, but Spurs have wasted no time in their hunt for the man who will be tasked with bringing a measure of stability to the club after the highs of the Pochettino-era and the lows of the Portuguese era.
Last summer, Tottenham courted Conte to replace Mourinho but negotiations between the club and the Italian broke down. This time, however, Tottenham’s managing director of football Fabio Paratici hasn’t let his prime target slip through his hands. Paratici worked with Conte for three seasons at Juventus from 2011.
Conte had also been on the radar of Manchester United, where the future of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is under permanent scrutiny, but the Spurs hierarchy have convinced the former Chelsea manager to consider the role, mid-season at a mid-table club.
The Italian is a storied manager, having coached the Italy national team and led all of Juventus, Chelsea and Internazionale to league titles. He left Inter Milan last summer over the club’s plan to sell players. Conte’s recent record is as a short-term manager, who demands the utmost from his players and excels tactically.
So will he be the right man to steady the ship at a club in constant turmoil?
In 2021 alone, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, notoriously savvy at the negotiating table, but stubborn, dismissed both Mourinho and Nuno. He also fell out with want-away striker and club talisman Harry Kane, failing to agree a transfer fee for the striker
Levy is no pushover for managers or players and their agents, and was recently elected to the European Club Association board. Conte has a history of taking his management on when he feels things aren’t right – usually over player transfers. It will be an interesting dynamic.
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