After sacking Nuno Espirito Santo this morning from his role as head coach, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy and managing director Fabio Paratici are moving quickly with their efforts to secure a replacement, with talks between the club and Antonio Conte at an advanced stage.
Football.London state the Italian is expected to be appointed as manager at Spurs, with writer Bobby Vincent believing that Conte is ‘the smart choice’ but Levy needs to be patient with the former Chelsea boss.
Conte departed Inter Milan by mutual consent in the summer, just weeks after winning the Serie A title with the club.
The 52-year-old also won an additional three league titles in Italy with Juventus between 2011 and 2014.
Despite guiding Inter to their first Serie A triumph in 11 years, Conte left the club after a dispute over wages with chairman Steven Zhang.
Before his spell at the San Siro, Conte became one of just four managers to win the Premier League in his first season in English football during a two-year reign at Chelsea.
Winning the FA Cup in his second season wasn’t enough to save his job at Stamford Bridge, with a fifth-placed league finish prompting his dismissal.
With a record of 51 wins in 76 games, Conte has the second-highest win rate of coaches in the Premier League – Seb Jenkins, Chief Editor at The Spurs Web believes the arrival of the Italian will raise ‘bums off seats’ at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“I think Conte’s going to come in and we’ll see a switch to a 3-5-2 formation with Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son up front”, said Jenkins.
“Hopefully that will be enough to get bums off seats again at the stadium, rather than the toxic atmosphere we’ve been experiencing the last few weeks.”
Jenkins also stated that the fact a manager of Conte’s calibre was available had an impact on Nuno’s future in North London.
“The fans turned on Nuno and Daniel Levy, even on some of the players – probably more than I’ve ever seen in the last decade.
“I think the board felt that they had to act, and that probably paired nicely with Antonio Conte being available – it’s always easier to sack a manager when you’ve got someone waiting in the wings to come in immediately.”
Jenkins admits he’s not sure if Conte is the perfect solution for Spurs, but right now he’s the best option.
“At this stage it looks like Conte is going to be the one to come in, it comes back to the whole Tottenham DNA phrase, which Levy promised when he sacked Jose Mourinho back in the summer.
“He’s definitely a step up on Mourinho/Nuno, but he’s not really about that free-flowing, attacking football.”
According to Gianluca Di Marzio, Spurs and Conte are now discussing the final details of their agreement, with the latter in London to apply the finishing touches on his move.
