BISS NESS MODEL
Conte’s signings tipped to bring back magic
NO WONDER the Tottenham fanbase is buzzing.
Antonio Conte is winning battles and ripping up the squad ahead of an audacious title challenge next season.
Don’t laugh. On the face of it, the consistency of Liverpool and Manchester City and their hugely impressive summer business so far does indeed suggest the pair will dominate yet again next season.
Conte, though, is the great disruptor. The man who wiped out a 24-point lead to win his first title with Juventus in 2012. The man who shredded a 31-point deficit when he took over at Chelsea to win the Premier League in 2017.
Last season, he inspired a fragile Spurs side to derail Liverpool’s title bid, smash up City at the Etihad and leapfrog bitter rivals Arsenal into the Champions League.
Since then he has succeeded where every other Spurs boss in more than two decades of chairman Daniel Levy has failed – persuading the North Londoners to loosen the purse strings.
Majority shareholder ENIC has pumped in £150m, desperate not to lose the best that has ever happened to them.
Players are being signed ahead of preseason in a huge departure from Tottenham’s end-of-season rummage around the bargain basement.
The club has already beaten big-spending Newcastle and Aston Villa to the £25m capture of Brighton midfielder Yves Bissouma, which was confirmed yesterday.
They’ve landed experienced wing-back Ivan Perisic, a title winner under Conte two seasons ago.
They’ve brought in reliable competition for No.1 Hugo Lloris in Fraser Forster.
And now director of football management Fabio Paratici is targeting £22m Brazilian defender Gleison Bremer from Torino and £50m striker Richarlison.
Tottenham are even considering Inter Milan marksman Lautaro Martinez, who would cost even more.
Ex-Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara summed up the electrifying impact Conte’s victories are having on the club’s fanbase. He said: “I don’t want to jump the gun, but I think what Antonio Conte is doing at Spurs is a little bit similar to what Jurgen Klopp did at Liverpool when he first came in.
“Jurgen rebuilt the team slowly but then over the next two or three seasons you saw the impact and this Spurs side could be unbelievable.”
Speaking to Talksport, O’Hara added: “Tottenham always used to just wait until the last minute. Try and get a deal, try and get someone on the cheap and we end up panic buying, spending money and it doesn’t work out. This season, before preseason we have already signed three players. Three players that improve the team, not the squad, the first eleven.”
Champions League football has been a game-changer for the club.
And while Conte claimed not to be a magician after his side’s humiliating Europa Conference League defeat to NS Mura last November, he has shown himself to be a combination of Paul Daniels, Penn and Teller and David Blaine.
He could yet pull an even bigger rabbit out of the hat next season.