Antonio Conte says he shares the Tottenham Hotspur fans' excitement about the direction the club is heading in and that he is hoping that his dreams combined with hard work can bring something incredible.
Spurs have backed Conte this summer with six new players signed so far to increase the level across the squad in Ivan Perisic, Fraser Forster, Yves Bissouma, Richarlison, Clement Lenglet and Djed Spence. The Italian has been working his players hard and has looked happy and confident when speaking during the summer about the season to come.
Tottenham fans are excited after a transfer window like no other at the club, with Spurs taking the rare step of getting so many players in through the door before the season began in order for Conte to work with and mould the new recruits to his philosophy and fitness demands. The Spurs head coach admitted that it made no sense to work any other way.
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"For sure the fans are right to be excited - I am excited because I am happy and I'm living this time with joy. I think that we are going in the right way, and we have just started along a path and if we are good to follow this path, we can reach an important level in the future," said Conte.
"But if after only seven months I start to speak about winning the Premier League and Champions League and this trophy or that trophy it would be presumptuous and arrogant, but I think from my experience I feel we have started a good path and must continue to follow this path, but this path needs time and patience - for the team and the club to grow and grow and then to become competitive in every season and try to fight to win something.
"Our ambition has to be to do our best and then we'll see. For sure we want to much better than last season. I think the first step was to improve the squad, in the quality aspect and the numerical aspect. In my opinion it was the first important step to do with the club.
"We did these [transfers] in a good time and not wait until the end of the transfer market, because I think this has no sense because I think the coach needs to have the players quickly, to bring them into our idea of football and help them to adapt and also to create a group of players for the whole season."
He added: "I have to be realistic. I am a dreamer - a dreamer for sure. We need to be dreamers, because if you are a dreamer then the dream together with the work can bring you to reach something incredible in your life. In my life, it's happened in the past many times, but at the same time you have to be realistic and see what is the reality.
"At the same time I think it is good for our fans to be excited because I think they are seeing that we are going in the right direction with a good vision, that the club is totally involved in this project, in this process. For these reasons they have to be excited and the players and I we have to go together."
Harry Kane has looked sharp this summer with five goals in four pre-season matches and Conte has said that he expects the 29-year-old to be offered a new contract by Spurs. football.london understands that the England captain is open to talks over a new deal and the Spurs head coach is seeing a happy striker as a result of the club's ambition shown in the transfer window.
"Harry, I see him very happy, totally involved with this project, in this process with the team and with the club. This is very important because you know very well the importance of this player for the team-mates, for the fans, for the club, for me and for my staff," said Conte. "I like to see him in this way with this desire, this will to work strongly. I think he is the first player that is understanding that we are going in the right way. Then for sure I would like in this season to have the best satisfaction with my players.
"I think that we needed to be ambitious because ambition is important if this ambition is positive, not presumptuous or arrogant. This ambition has to bring us to give 120 per cent of our capacity. The will and desire to improve ourselves, and to try to do something important for the club, for ourselves, for the fans, but for me the best target this season will be to be better than the last season. If we do this, I think we can be competitive until the end."
Spurs open their season on Saturday with the visit of Southampton, a match that Conte's men lost last season with a sub-par performance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
"You know very well in England there is no easy game. You can drop points in every game. I don't think that against Southampton our focus, our attitude was different than when we played against City or against Liverpool. It was the same," he said. "But you have to know very well that you face in every game a lot of difficulty.
"Then for sure if you are good to not drop so many points. Southampton it’s exactly the same. We dropped five points against them last season. We need to try to not drop points but not only against Southampton but in every game because I think this is the best way to fight for something important: don’t drop points in every game."
Next season brings a very different campaign with the winter World Cup in Qatar cutting the fixture calendar in half, split around the tournament which begins in late November and ends in mid-December.
Conte admits that it is something he has never encountered before but one that he and his coaches have been trying to plan for despite the uncertainty surrounding how it will impact the players and the league.
"This will be the first time we’ve faced this situation and we don't know what's the best way to face the two parts of the season. In my opinion, and what I’ve asked of my physical coach, is to work and prepare very well for these four months and be focused on these four months. The most important thing is to get good results and not to try to think for the future," he said.
"It will be very important to go step by step, game by game, then you start the Champions League and you have to be ready to overcome your group and then we’ll see. A lot of strange things can happen. You don’t know how many injuries you will face, or the stage your players reach during the World Cup.
"Of course we have a strategy and it is a strategy to arrive at the end of the first half in the peak of fitness and then for sure we are going to give a bit of rest to these players and to restart. Then we have to go step by step. When we finish the World Cup, we have to evaluate the players and the way they come back after the World Cup.
"Some will need more rest. Some will need to work. It is a difficult situation to face and you need a lot of professionalism and a really good staff."
He added: "Every team has a lot of players that play with the national teams, and we are in the same boat. If you speak with the other coaches they will tell you they want to start strong, to get points, points, points.
"You have two halves and in the first half you have to stay in the best possible position. Then, in the second half, the end is very important to which position in the table you finish. The best thing is to be consistent, don’t invent something strange. You have to work in the same way now and continue in the same way in the second half."
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