The Athletic’s Jack Pitt-Brooke believes Tottenham Hotspur need to sign manager Antonio Conte to a new deal as soon as possible in order to avoid instability within the squad.
The Italian manager joined the club last November and managed to take the team to the Champions League at the first time of asking – and now has them third in the Premier League after just six games.
Prior to last night’s setback, they had also made a great start to life in the Champions League, picking up a huge 2-0 win against Marseille in their opener thanks to goals from summer signing Richarlison, who was one of several players to come through the door under the Italian’s stewardship.
According to Transfermarkt, Conte’s contract at the club is due to expire in June 2023, and Pitt-Brooke believes the club must get him signed to a new deal as soon as possible in order to avoid any problems within the squad.
With colleague Charlie Eccleshare away until March, the panel were tasked with predicting what will have happened by the time he returns – leading Pitt-Brooke to deliver his thoughts on how the situation will lie in six months’ time.
He told the View From the Lane podcast: “I would say it’s likelier that Conte will have signed a new deal [by March] because you can’t have a manager with two months left ticking on a deal. It’s just a joke. It looks really bad and will create instability.
“If I had to predict, I think that by the time Charlie [Eccleshare] comes back at the end of March, I think it’s more than 50% likely that Conte will have signed a new deal.”
TIF Thoughts on Conte’s contract…
Conte has proven himself to be an elite manager during his time at Juventus, Chelsea and Inter. He is a title winner and can take a team to domestic heights, and therefore, we feel Spurs need to do everything they can to keep him in the dressing room past this season.
He has already had a huge impact on the side, bringing them back into the Champions League as well as signing huge talents like Dejan Kulusevski, Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur, Ivan Perisic and Richarlison to name a few.
The Premier League race is currently wide open and it feels like any of the top teams could win the title this season. If Spurs have any hopes of finally winning some silverware, they surely need to keep Conte around and tie him down to a long-term contract. Considering his past though, this could be a very difficult task.
However, much to the delight of Spurs fans, he previously said that he would have ‘zero problem’ extending his contract if the club continue to progress and manage to keep Harry Kane around. It feels like things are going in the right direction for the Lilywhites, but we will have to see how this season unfolds if they are to continue to compete.
Should Spurs extend Conte?Yes
No
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