Tottenham Hotspur have asked Antonio Conte to avoid giving any further Italian media interviews, according to Charlie Eccleshare and Jack Pitt-Brooke of The Athletic. Conte is known for being frank in his interviews but the translation of a recent interview has not gone down well with his employers.
Antonio Conte Asked to Avoid Giving Italian Media Interviews
Conte Disturbed
Antonio Conte himself is not happy in the way his interview with Sky Italia has been reported in the British media and told the media at his pre-match press conference ahead of Manchester City (a) that he was ‘disturbed’ with the coverage. Conte feels that there is an agenda to create a problem between himself and the club, stating: “I think I was very, very clear. I don’t understand why someone wants to try to create a problem with me. Not only me but also in the past.”
Conte also suggested that the media have tried to create issues for previous managers and chairman Daniel Levy: “I read stories in the past about this club and it creates a problem with the coach and the chairman and the club. The chairman knows my thoughts very well.”
Just What Has Concerned Levy and Tottenham
Tottenham have had Jose Mourinho in the hot seat and now another one of the best coaches in the world in Conte but whilst these names are impressive, the results on the pitch are still a cause for concern with silverware remaining elusive.
Spurs will not have been concerned that Conte said he is “Definitely happy with the way the players are working.” but where there may be a perceived disconnect between club and manager is over transfers and strength in depth: “Four players left in January, four important players for Tottenham. Two have now come in. Numerically, on paper, you may have ‘weakened’ instead of strengthening. Specific choices have been made for lots of reasons, but I definitely never expected four players who I considered to be important players would change teams in January for some reasons.”
Much has been made of these comments but in many ways, he is only stating what is obvious. When a club allows four players to leave and only bring two players in then any club will be weaker from a numbers point of view. When you then consider the players that were allowed to leave, they were all players that Conte himself hadn’t shown much faith in.
Surplus to Requirements
Only Tanguy Ndombele and Dele Alli started under the Italian whilst Bryan Gil and Giovani Lo Celso were rarely seen other than in bit-part appearances from the bench. The one start for Ndombele was in the FA Cup against Morecambe and he was booed off by his own fans so it is hard to argue that the loss of those players has actually weakened Spurs in any way.
What Conte was pointing toward was Tottenham’s failings in the transfer windows before his arrival and it is hard to argue that he is wrong. Ndombele was the club’s record signing, Lo Celso cost £27.2 million and Gil cost around £21 million. When you spend that amount of money and start loaning those players out or selling them on, the recruitment has to be challenged.
The likely issue that Daniel Levy will have is that the comments challenge himself and former transfer chief Steve Hitchen who has since left the club. When managers challenge Levy they often find he is not the most patient man and the fact Conte’s comments have been somewhat lost in translation is the real issue here rather than the words themselves.
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