For Antonio Conte, it has been a traumatic period. The Tottenham manager has been rocked by the deaths of three close friends – Gian Piero Ventrone, Sinisa Mihajlovic and Gianluca Vialli – and they have led him to “an important reflection on my future”.
What Conte made clear as he opened up for the first time after Vialli’s death on the Friday before last was that he had been reminded of what was most important in life. It is family and friends. And as he has tried to cope with the bereavements – first Ventrone in early October, then Mihajlovic in the middle of December before Vialli – he has really felt the distance to his wife, Elisabetta, and their 15-year-old daughter, Vittoria, who have continued to live in Italy.
