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Football London
Football London
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Alasdair Gold

Every word Cristian Stellini said on Bryan Gil staying, Pape Matar Sarr potential and Kane call

Can we have your thoughts on the passing of Gianluca Vialli?

Antonio in this moment is upset and sad. Every one of us we are close to Vialli's family and all the people that loved Vialli. He is an important person in Italy and also in England so we are close together to stay with his family and to remember him in the right way. For us he was a great player but first of all he was a great man. He teach us a lot of things, not only when he played also when he speak with everyone. If you know him and people that know him can only speak well about this great guy. He was a great leader for Italy

What's the latest team news as the fans are hoping Bentancur, Richarlison and Kulusevski could be back for Arsenal?

Everyone is thinking about the next step in the Premier League but we have an important match tomorrow. It is an important cup to play. We are working hard to recover players. Maybe someone can recover next week for the match against Arsenal but we are so focused on the match in the FA Cup. We respect this cup, we spoke about trying to win a trophy and tomorrow is an important time to show our desire.

READ MORE: How Bryan Gil changed Conte's mind, those Marcus Edwards links and Doherty's Kane transfer hint

Do you think the squad needs a couple of quality January signings?

About the transfer market, I am not the right person to speak about transfer market because my business is improving players you have in the squad with training, with matches and this is what I do. So, I think it is better to speak about the players we have in the squad and not the players that we can sign in the future. I focus on that and we have to speak about the players we have.

Did Vialli being the first Italian manager in the Premier League help Antonio and others follow?

He opened the door for Italian managers because was the first and in that moment maybe the Premier League for us was a different country for Italian managers. But in that moment the Premier League grow a lot and overcome the Italian Serie A. Now we have to say thanks to Vialli because he opened this door for everyone and let us understand because he also played here.

He let us understand how important football is in Europe to open doors and to create because also an Italian manager came into the Premier League and improved the Premier League together so it is a great thing.

Everyone loves the FA Cup, how important this season is the competition to you, Antonio and Spurs?

First of all I want to say that the FA Cup is a dream for us, for me. When I was a played I was not every time in the top league. So my dream was to see the FA Cup because it gave the possibility for a low team to challenge and to win a trophy, a top trophy. In Italy we don't have a chance to do it and I didn't when I was a player so it's a dream to me to learn from this type of situation in England.

When I was a player sometimes I had this possibility and I know the desire of this type of team, Portsmouth tomorrow and Morecambe last season, how important it is for them to play this type of match. So we have to respect this and show our desire. For that reason the FA Cup is an important trophy to try to win. We spoke about this a lot of times and every time we have to show our respect in the game.

You've worked closely with Pape Matar Sarr, what have you been working with him on and just how good he can be?

He's a very young player. It's the first time he came to England. He has one year experience in Ligue 1 in France. About his skill, he can do everything because he's a great player with many possibilities. He's a midfielder who can play in many positions. He's a talented player.

I spoke at my last press conference about the way you have to wait with young players. If you use young players at the wrong time, you can make a mistake. But with Pape, Antonio decided at this moment that Pape is ready and he improved a lot in training.

We worked a lot on body position and many skills he has to improve. He showed a desire to improve and this is very important for us. If you work with a player and they show this desire it's easier. With Pape it is easy. He has to continue to work because we have a hierarchy, so he has to respect this and we have to respect the players. He has the possibility now and he has to show his desire and his quality.

Will Bryan Gil stay at the club for the second half of the season?

I think so, yeah. He could and he's playing very well. We're so happy because he's another player we worked a lot with. He has a great, great, great improvement, because he trains every day 110%. He puts in all his energy every day and this is why he deserved to play a good match to be important in that match, with an assist, and the last pass before an assist. It was a great match for him.

Could tomorrow be a chance to give Harry Kane a rest as he's started every game?

Could be an opportunity to give him a rest but we don't have many players and the choice is compulsory. So we have to choose the players we have in the front line. We have three strikers at the moment and we'll use them. It's an important match in an important cup and if you want to respect it you use the players in their positions. At the moment we have those three.

Could Kulusevski or Bentancur be options?

We hope so [for Arsenal], we're working hard in this way and next week hopefully someone could be available for the match against Arsenal.

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