Brexit red tape ensured that Antonio Conte, Daniel Levy’s latest chosen one at Tottenham, was unable to address the media on Wednesday afternoon for the first time since his appointment.
But supporters were still granted a glimpse of their new boss in a three-minute video plastered across the club’s social channels.
Paperwork is a pain
Although Conte was unable to discuss Tottenham‘s upcoming match against Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem in the Europa Conference League, he is expected to receive his visa in time to take his place in the dugout in front of a sell-out home crowd on Thursday night.
Instead, media duties for the game – not that it was mentioned at all – were left to Tottenham’s managing director of football Fabio Paratici and then after a half-time break to long-serving captain Hugo Lloris. Both began their segments by offering their gratitude to the departed Nuno Espirito Santo and condolences that things had not worked out, before getting down to business.
The Juventus model
As if a re-engaged fanbase hadn’t already spent the past 24 hours becoming acquainted with Conte’s glittering CV, he used his first in-house interview to spell out his accomplishments just in case.
The 52-year-old touched upon his role as Juventus’ project manager a decade ago and how he had laid the foundations for a historic, record-breaking period of dominance in Italian football – before then taking a sledgehammer to it in May.
“To win nine titles in a row means you have dominated,” Conte reflected on Juventus’ success. “I started, then I stopped this cycle because of Inter Milan.”
When Paratici joined Juventus in 2010, the club had failed to win a (legitimate) title since 2003 and had recently been humbled by Fulham in the Europa League. His decision to appoint Conte a year later brought a weary Old Lady back to life, as Juventus won three successive Serie A titles. “When we started at Juve, we didn’t win for a long time,” Paratici said. “We didn’t think we have to win this or this. We thought we had to compete, this is the most important thing.”
‘Time to work’
As Paratici and Lloris reiterated throughout the course of Wednesday’s press conference, Conte’s track record speaks for itself. Since Tottenham’s last trophy win – the League Cup in 2008 – just over 5,000 days ago this week, Conte has won nine honours, including five top-flight titles. “I know him very well,” Paratici added. “He is a hard worker, with a lot of passion and has a lot of knowledge. He is one of the best coaches in the world.”
Lloris has seen it all during his nine-and-a-half years at Spurs and Conte will be the seventh manager he has worked alongside. Unlike the other six, the Italian has a genuine claim to be one of the very best tacticians in the world at the time of his arrival. “It is a great opportunity to work under one of the greatest managers of the last few years,” he said. “Now is not the time for words. It is time to work. It is time to believe again in ourselves, our team and in our club. Step by step we will try to improve and reach the level that we should.”
Lloris added: “He has a great personality, great ideas about football. He will bring his passion, energy and knowledge of football.”
Transfers low on the agenda
Conte clashed with his bosses at Chelsea and Inter over transfer policy and there is an expectation that in order to keep him appeased, funds will be made available to him at Spurs. Paratici was quick to play down the likelihood of Spurs embarking on a post-Christmas splurge in the January transfer window, however, by instead championing the qualities of the current underperforming squad.
When asked whether discussions have taken place with Conte over possible transfer targets, Paratici responded: “Not at all. Because we trust a lot in our players.”
No in the summer, but yes now?
Paratici also echoed Conte’s sentiments that the summer was “not the right time” for him to accept Spurs’ initial proposal, coming too soon after an emotionally draining campaign with Inter.
It might have taken longer than hoped, but Tottenham have finally appointed the manager that they wanted all along. After a messy and muddled four months, the club can emerge from the dark shadow of Mourinho and finally embark on what they hope will be a golden new era.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3bFzKGk
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