Antonio Conte has said that he has to decide if he wants to stay as Tottenham Hotspur head coach and undertake a rebuilding job, or leave.
Conte’s contract expires in the summer and he is yet to sign a new deal, despite holding talks during the World Cup break. Spurs have the option to extend Conte’s contract by another year but the Italian has always indicated he will not be forced to stay.
Tottenham have won only two of their past seven Premier League games and, after the 2-0 loss at home to Aston Villa on Sunday, Conte said the club’s transfer policy made it impossible to compete with their big-spending rivals.
Asked if he felt frustrated by the team’s distance from the title race, Conte, 53, said on Tuesday: “My task here is different. My task here is to help the club, to build a solid foundation, to create a base and then to try to improve.
“If you ask me if the challenge is to win the Premier League, to win the Champions League, this is not the task here in this moment. The task for me is to help the club. Now if I want to stay here, then I have to accept this. Otherwise, if I don’t want to accept this then I have to go.”
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Conte is not renowned for his patience. He has never spent longer than three years in charge at one club and left his previous job, at Inter Milan, after a disagreement over transfers.
But Tottenham have backed Conte since his arrival. They signed Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski from Juventus in January last year before spending about £150 million on seven new players in the summer, including £60 million on Richarlison. Spurs are still short up front and at right wingback and Conte will want further reinforcements this month.
“At the start for me it wasn’t easy,” Conte said. “I accepted to do this because I found a great club, a modern club, and for this reason I’m happy to work here. I found people that want to be positive and to create. I found people that know the reality. For this reason, I accepted this [job].
“Otherwise, if these people had said to me ‘we have to win’ I would have said ‘sorry but this is not the right moment to think that in one year you have to win’. For this reason, I accepted this. Now, the task is this, my big challenge is this: to improve the club, to create a solid foundation.
“If I am satisfied to continue to do this work and to one day see the result, I will continue to stay. If I’m not convinced 100 per cent then I can leave my work here.”
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Asked if he wants to be part of a longer-term project at Tottenham, Conte said: “This is a problem between me and the club. Now I am really committed to Tottenham.”
Kulusevski could return tonight against Crystal Palace, after missing the Villa defeat with a “muscle injury”. Bentancur has resumed training but is not ready to play after coming back from the World Cup with an adductor problem.
Crystal Palace v Tottenham
Wednesday, 8pm
Sky Sports
