Antonio Conte is no longer the head coach of Tottenham Hotspur and his departure will have knock-on effects for plenty of people within the club.
The 53-year-old Italian mutually agreed his exit from the north London side on Sunday evening and chairman Daniel Levy placed Conte's assistant Cristian Stellini in charge as interim head coach until the end of the season with Ryan Mason stepping up as his assistant head coach. The players will begin returning to Tottenham on Tuesday to work with the new caretaker duo, as some already were last week.
Let's take a look at which people within the club we think will end up as winners or losers from the Conte departure.
READ MORE: The messy end of Antonio Conte's Tottenham reign and the names in the frame to replace him
Winners
Arnaut Danjuma
The person you immediately think of benefitting from the Italian's departure has to be Arnaut Danjuma. Spurs' managing director of football Fabio Paratici and the club's recruitment team pushed for the signing of the Netherlands international on loan from Villarreal, snatching him away from the grasp of Everton.
Only nobody appeared to have checked with Conte over whether he wanted the 26-year-old or if he actually fitted into his system.
"About Arnaut, for sure I am sorry. I am sorry for him because he arrived in the transfer market in January and the club wanted to sign on loan this player," Conte said this month. "For sure he has good characteristics, good quality and maybe he has not specific characteristics to be a number 10. Maybe he is more a second striker or a winger, but for sure I am appreciating a lot his desire, his will in every training (session)."
Danjuma will benefit from a change in tactics and Stellini will be more than aware that the Spurs fans will want to see more of a player who has played just 47 minutes across four matches since joining two months ago. Tottenham have an option to buy the player but he hasn't had a chance to show whether they should.
Cristian Stellini
Cristian Stellini is now living out his dream.
"I enjoy a lot to be a coach in charge but when you take a decision you have to do your best," he said last month. "Sometimes I think about being a coach, like a dream, but I'm an assistant and that's the reality. I enjoy being an assistant. I feel I'm good in this job enough to continue.
"Taking decisions when you're an assistant is different the way you take them, because you think more about training and creating a good pace in the training. Also working maybe sometimes individually with players and you can enjoy a lot this aspect, because an assistant wants to improve the players individually and wants to create the right pace in the training. It's amazing when you feel the player following you.
"When you are a coach you have to take the decision and feel the responsibility, take a decision that affects the game and the win. So it's different, the responsibility is much more but maybe this feeling you enjoy to win and to take decisions."
Stellini is now getting his chance to show what he can do over the next 10 matches and he will be trying to claim a top four spot and push his claims to make his role a more permanent one. The key could well be if he can prove he isn't just Conte's man and instead has his own ideas and style of play, particularly a more attractive one to impress the fans.
Son Heung-min
Conte did have a big positive impact on Son Heung-min last season as the South Korean played some of the best football of his career and shared the Premier League Golden Boot with Mohamed Salah.
However, something has not worked this season for Son under the Italian. Whether it's the tactics, the partnership with Ivan Perisic or just a general lack of confidence.
Something needs to change for him and a tweak to the way Spurs are playing might just be the jump start Son needs to unlock the best of himself again and restore his partnership with Harry Kane.
Ryan Mason
This is another step forward in the experience of Ryan Mason. The young coach stepped up as a 29-year-old to take on the caretaker boss role when Jose Mourinho left, winning four of his six Premier League matches and losing in the Carabao Cup final by a single goal.
He turned down the offer to join Nuno Espirito Santo's coaching team but could not say no when Conte made the same request a few months later. Now he gets to experience another new role as an assistant head coach and it's a chance to add further strings to his bow.
There are high hopes for Mason within Spurs and it will be interesting to see how much louder his voice and thoughts on football are without the dominating presence of Conte above.
"Yeah, I think [he will become a manager]," Stellini said last month of Mason. "He is young. He needs time and experience but probably. I am not the right person to give him suggestions because he has studied a lot and he wants to improve. He has a good character to be a coach and to lead a club, but he needs experience like everyone.
"I think one of the best skills for a coach is [clarity]. Don’t create confusion. He has many details, many ideas, many players to make a choice and to [filter] all this is an important skill. Ryan has the character and this type of skill, and I think this is an important skill for a great coach."
Djed Spence
With Emerson Royal flying out to Brazil to have surgery on his knee, it's a shame Spurs can't recall Spence from his loan at Rennes but it's outside of the Premier League registration window. The England U21 international would probably not be too keen to give up playing regularly for the Ligue 1 side anyway to be Pedro Porro's back-up with one game a week right now.
However, Conte's exit does provide the 22-year-old with a fresh slate when he returns to try to impress the next manager in pre-season.
Conte made it very clear that Spence was a club signing and gave him just five minutes of Premier League football across four matches, seemingly to very publicly show that he was not what he needed in that moment. Now the young wing-back will get a chance to prove that he is ready to be a Spurs player.
Losers
Daniel Levy
There's only one place to start here and that's the Tottenham chairman as Daniel Levy counts the cost of yet another managerial appointment that has ended in tears.
Conte's departure means that no Spurs manager has had a full season at the club since the 2018/19 campaign. That's an embarrassing fact for Levy and the powers-that-be at Tottenham and it only increases the pressure on them this summer.
The next manager will be the 12th the chairman has appointed in just 22 years and that ratio is only helped by Mauricio Pochettino's half a decade or so at the club.
Levy led the charge to sign Conte in November 2021, despite most people suggesting it was a bad fit and earlier summer talks that had shown the clear differences between the two parties. The Italian got Spurs back in the Champions League, so there is success to be had in that, but he also spent much of his tenure telling everyone just how far Levy's Tottenham were behind the rest and reminding everyone of the chairman's record of just one League Cup in his 22 year tenure.
Now the Spurs supremo once again returns to the drawing board for another time of upheaval and change for those below.
Ivan Perisic
If anyone is a Conte signing from the past 16 months it's probably the 34-year-old Croatian, who was signed on a free transfer with a big salary.
Perisic has racked up nine assists and scored one goal with a chunk of those assists from corners. Defensively Perisic has struggled with the pace of the Premier League so far and despite his silverware-laden career elsewhere is yet to prove a consistent success in England.
Conte's exit could cause Perisic an issue with game time if Spurs dispense with a back three because he would be in direct competition with Son as a winger, as the Croatian is not particularly suited to be a left-back.
Injuries might delay any potential switch to a back four though as natural full-back options are thin on the ground with Emerson and Ben Davies out injured.
It will interesting to see whether Perisic will join Conte in heading back to Italy in the summer.
Fabio Paratici
Although Levy led the chase for Conte, the other main Italian at Spurs would have been pushing his cause and was the one on daily speaking terms with the head coach.
Towards the end Paratici was Conte's main ally on the board and with the managing director of football's last managerial suggestion having been Nuno Espirito Santo, how much say he has with the next appointment remains to be seen.
Paratici also has plenty going on back home with the various investigations into Juventus and when it comes to Tottenham the departure of an ally in Conte will not have helped.
READ NEXT:
- The truths and flaws in Antonio Conte's explosive Tottenham tirade and Daniel Levy's decision
- Every word of Antonio Conte's remarkable and furious press conference about Tottenham
- Dazzling Djed Spence praised, Tanguy Ndombele scores, Destiny Udogie wins award and happy Winks
- Antonio Conte's awkward Tottenham return and Daniel Levy's familiar decision
- The £10bn businessman spotted speaking to Daniel Levy and issue with Harry Kane Tottenham exit
