CONTE’S FIRST JOB? TO SOLVE THE KANE CONUNDRUM
The new boss must earn his £20m package by getting the Spurs talisman back to his BRILLIANT BEST
ANTONIO CONTE’S first task as the new Tottenham manager is crystal clear – get Harry Kane back in form.
The Spurs talisman has been a shadow of his former self this season. And on Monday, Nuno Espirito Santo paid the price for the team’s alarming slump by being sacked.
Conte, 52, was confirmed as Tottenham’s new boss yesterday on an initial 18-month deal – with an option to extend – worth about £20million a year including bonuses.
He met his new squad yesterday and watched training in the afternoon.
Tottenham’s players were said to be “excited” by the Italian’s arrival.
The ex-Chelsea chief slept at Spurs Lodge overnight on Monday after talks with club officials in order to be ready to begin work.
Conte said: “I’m extremely happy to return to coaching and to do so at a Premier League club that has the ambition to be a protagonist again.
“Tottenham has state-of-the-art facilities and one of the best stadiums in the world.
“I can’t wait to start working to convey to the team and the fans the passions, mentality and determination that have always distinguished me, as a player and as a coach. Last summer our union did not happen because the end of my relationship with Inter was still too recent and emotionally too involved.
“So I felt that it wasn’t yet the right time to return to coaching. But the contagious enthusiasm and determination of Daniel Levy in wanting to entrust me with this task had already hit the mark.
“Now that the opportunity has returned, I have chosen to take it with great conviction.” Managing director of football Fabio Paratici, who failed in his first bid to land Conte in the summer, said: “Antonio’s record speaks for itself, with vast experience and trophies in Italy and England.
“I know first-hand the qualities Antonio can
bring to us, having worked with him at Juventus and look forward to seeing his work with our players.”
Kane, 28, wanted to leave in the summer, but his move to Manchester City never materialised after Levy refused to sell.
Since then, the England star’s form has dipped, netting only one league goal so far in the campaign.
But Conte is happy Spurs showed they were determined to hang on to Kane, and is a fan of the striker. When at Stamford Bridge in 2017, he said: “I consider him as one of the best players in the world.
“When you have a player who scores every season 30 goals, when you miss this type of player, you can feel this.” The Italian has a proven reputation as a coach who improves players he works with, though his intense methods can cause rifts. He got 20 goals out of the fiery Diego Costa the year Chelsea won the title in 2017 but then fell out spectacularly with the striker.
But after winning last season’s Serie A title together at Inter Milan, Romelu Lukaku (above with Conte), hailed him as “the best manager in the world”. Former Juventus midfielder Andrea Pirlo said: “When Conte speaks, his words assault you.”