Antonio Conte's days as manager of Tottenham Hotspur appear numbered. The club's Champions League exit on Wednesday to AC Milan was the final nail in the coffin to those who expect Conte to leave at the end of his contract, with it being difficult to see a future in which the Italian is the head coach of the Lilywhites next season, football.london understands.
After undergoing gall bladder removal surgery in early February, Conte underestimated his recovery time and was back in the dugout just a few weeks later for the Premier League clash with Leicester. Four days later, Tottenham played AC Milan in Conte's native Italy where the decision was made for him to remain there for just under a month, with his return match the second leg against Milan at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The coming months are set to be decisive for Conte and Spurs with his contract up in the summer, although a one-year extension was pencilled into his deal. However, it appears more and more likely neither party were keen to activate that option and the Times reported last week that Conte's break from Tottenham in Italy has only strengthened his will to return to his home country at the end of his contract.
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"This is not the right day to speak about my future," Conte explained after the Milan defeat. "I have a contract with Tottenham and then Tottenham know very well which is my thoughts and at the end of season we will meet and then we'll make a decision."
Due to his short stints at several other clubs, including Inter Milan and Chelsea, the future of Conte is a heavily brought up topic in press conferences, with the Italian asked again about the situation ahead of Spurs' clash with Nottingham Forest.
"In this moment I think the most important thing is to be focused on the league," he said. "You know which is my opinion, you know which is my desire and I say to you a lot of time during the press conference that the situation I have found and we are far to aspire to be competitive to fight to win.
"I don't speak about my future because the club knows very well which is my situation, which is my thoughts."
In those spells at Inter and the Blues, Conte was able to win silverware. However, in his 14 months in north London, the closest Tottenham have come to a trophy was the 2021/22 Carabao Cup, but they were knocked out by his former employers Chelsea in the semi-finals.
Asked why he has been unable to achieve similar success at Spurs, Conte gave an interesting response, using a one-word description of his contract as a possible reason.
"You know with the club we signed a contract, a strange contract - one-year-and-a-half," he said. "Usually you sign a contract for three years but I think it was for the club and also for myself to see the situation.
"For the club to understand my personality, my capacity as a coach and for me from my side it was also the same. To understand if we were on the same page and if we wanted to do something important.
"Now after one year and a half, the club knows me, I know the club and it is clear this situation. For this reason I repeat, we have to finish the season and then we will see."
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