It’s fair to say relations didn’t begin well between Ivan Perisic and Antonio Conte when they first met in Milan.
Conte had just arrived as Inter manager, in May 2019, and told the club’s second highest scorer of the previous season, who saw himself quite clearly as a forward, that he needed to learn to defend.
To Perisic’s credit, he tried. He worked on his defensive positioning, his tracking back, his tackling. But Perisic didn’t believe he could do it, and Conte sent him away. “His response isn’t positive,” the Italian said, before sending him on loan to Bayern Munich.
A year later, Perisic returned to Italy a Champions League and Bundesliga winner who had played 35 games, scored eight goals and assisted 10. Yet Conte was far more impressed by his newfound defensive application than any trophies.
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Signing up star loanees has to be priority No 1 if Forest want to survive in the Premier League30 May, 2022I recall this story because Perisic is set to become Conte’s first major signing of the summer at Tottenham and it’s a telling example of the curious devotion Conte commands from his players. Chances are the majority of footballers discarded in the way Perisic had been would not jump at the prospect of working under the manager again. Yet despite being one of this summer’s most sought-after out-of-contract players, Perisic chose Conte.
Word’s been getting round football circles in recent weeks that the Spurs x Conte collaboration could be on the verge of causing a surprise in the season ahead. That Tottenham are a good summer transfer window away from seriously loosening the stranglehold of Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea on English football.
Clearly Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has smelt something in the Hotspur Way air. Levy’s decision to convince majority shareholders ENIC Sports Inc to make £150 million available would not have been made lightly.
And looking at Conte’s record, it’s easy to see why people are so captivated by his thrall. Everything he touches turns to silverware. When Conte took over at Juventus in 2011 they had just finished in seventh place for a successive season. This was not the mighty Juventus team of now, but the wounded beast still recovering from the Calciopoli scandal that saw them relegated to Serie B with a six-point deduction for match-fixing.
In stepped Conte, the return of the club’s former captain and fan-favourite forming a wave of expectation, and immediately made clear to the players that they were, quite simply, not good enough.
Andrea Pirlo had made a shock move from AC Milan on a free transfer and Conte worked smartly, signing Arturo Vidal and pairing him with Claudio Marchisio to allow Pirlo to spin his silk in central midfield. That season, Pirlo finished with Serie A’s most assists, created 100 chances and in the whole world only Xavi completed more passes than him.
Sixteen days shy of a year since Conte’s arrival, Juventus secured a first title in nine years and ended the season unbeaten, a first for Serie A after its expansion to 20 teams. For each of Conte’s three seasons in charge, Juventus won the league and the Italian was awarded the Panchina d’Oro – Serie A’s manager of the season.
“When Conte speaks, his words assault you,” Pirlo later wrote in I Think Therefore I Play.
After Conte turned Romelu Lukaku from a struggling Manchester United striker into a title-winner and near £100m player during two seasons together at Inter Milan (when Conte arrived they were in fourth and he left them as champions), Lukaku recalls how Conte taught players “how to go to the red zone”. Indeed, Italy defender Leonardo Bonucci referred to Conte as “the hammer” – “the rapport with Conte is frank and direct”.
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In hindsight, it makes sense that Conte’s two-year spell in charge of Italy didn’t work out spectacularly. He is an all-or-nothing manager, a coach who gets results by demanding every last drop is squeezed from players every day in training. You can’t bend players to your will, shape them into the requirements of the whole rather than the individual, meeting only a few times a year.
Conte certainly had his work cut-out during his first job back in 2016, joining a Chelsea side on the back of a disastrous season in which they had finished 10th in the Premier League. Still, it didn’t take long for Conte’s transformation to take hold.
They would win the title with two games to spare during a season in which Chelsea won 30 of 38 league games – setting a Premier League record – and Conte became the first manager to win three successive Manager of the Month awards.
Even Conte’s formative years as a coach are frequented by these uplifting reconstructions. Midway through the 2006-07 season he took charge of relegation-threatened Bari then guided them to mid-table before winning the Serie B title the following year. After Siena were relegated from the Italian top-flight in 2010 they appointed Conte and he led them straight back up.
There are shades of it at Tottenham. Arriving in November at a club in ninth, with little sense of direction, all going a bit Spursy again, and still he led them to Champions League qualification.
At the core of the Spurs squad he has inherited still remain the bones of a side who once challenged for the Premier League and reached a Champions League final – notably Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Hugo Lloris. Along with Perisic, they need at least one centre-back, a central midfielder, perhaps another full-back.
After Perisic arrived back from Germany to become a pivotal part in Inter’s title-winning season, Conte said he was pleased the player was ready “to put himself at the service of the team”. When players submit to Conte’s teams, they tend to win trophies.
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