Stellini and Mason the right move
Agreement has finally been reached with Conte, who has offers from Italian clubs and was looking for a way out at Tottenham before his automatic year kicked in.
The pay-off is thought to be around £5m and Conte gave his permission for Christian Stellini to stay in charge until the end of the season.
That indicates Conte will not be taking a job until then and it is probably written into his agreement anyway, the same way that if Nagelsmann takes a job before the end of the season, Bayern Munich have to be paid compensation.
Manchester United appointed a manager and they were bottom of the league for a while, until the players adjusted to the new system.
Spurs can't afford that to happen.
Therefore, it is a sensible move to have Stellini and Mason take over, as it gives us continuity and the best chance of achieving a Top 4 finish, which affects which players we can bring into the club of course.
Fans assume clubs improve immediately with a new manager, they don't and any bounce effect is temporary, it doesn't last for 10 games and we need to be at the top of our game for those 10 games.
So fans know what is happening, yet some still need every rumour commented on by the chairman, a bandwagon Henry winter of the Times has jumped on.
Now it is wait and see if there are any tweaks or are we must going to play the system better, with renewed enthusiasm in our hearts.
As ever, I look forward to our next encounter.
Tottenham Transfer News
Perr Schuurs
Tottenham are one of the clubs keeping an eye on Torino centre-back Perr Schuurs.
The 23-year-old (24 in Movember) right-footed Dutch U-21 international (17 caps, 2 goals, 1 assist) defender has started 77% of the Serie A sides league games.
He took over from Gleison Bremer, who left to join Juventus and hasn't been missed.
Liverpool, Manchester United, PSG, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Naples and Rome have asked for information.
Italian outlet Tuttosport suggests figures around €50 million would be hard to resist.
Serie A defender ratings
1. Kim Min-Jae (Naples) 6.48
2. Mario Rui (Naples) 6.34
3. Pasquale Mazzocchi (Salernitana) 6.33
4. Perr Schuurs (Turin) 6.32
5. Federico Baschirotto (Lecce) 6.30
Current top players in Serie A
1. Victor Osimhen (Naples) 7.18
2. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Naples) 6.93
3. Paulo Dybala (Roma) 6.63
4. Armand Laurienté (Sassuolo) 6.55
5. Stanislav Lobotka (Naples) 6.50
6. Guglielmo Vicario (Empoli) 6.50
7. Kim Min-Jae (Naples) 6.48
8. Ademola Lookman (Atalanta) 6.46
9. Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio) 6.41
10. Mario Rui (Naples) 6.34
11. Adrien Rabiot (Juventus) 6.34
12. Emil Audero (Sampdoria) 6.34
13. Pasquale Mazzocchi (Salernitana) 6.33
14. Arkadiusz Milik (Juventus) 6.33
15. Lautaro Martinez (Inter) 6.33
16. M'Bala Nzola (Spezia) 6.32
17. Perr Schuurs (Turin) 6.32
18. Nicolò Barella (Inter) 6.31
19. Andre Onana (Inter) 6.31
20. Marco Silvestri (Udinese) 6.31
Ivan Perišić
Italian Journalist Marco Barzaghi has suggested that 34-year-old (35 next February) Croatian international wingback Ivan Perišić is looking for a return to Serie A.
Barzaghi stated on his YouTube channel that;
“He [Perišić] would like to return, above all because he expects that Conte will leave at the end of the season, and things could get even more difficult for him.“As with Hakimi [PSG], he’s confided to former teammates that he’d like to come back.”
That would explain Spurs being interested in Stuttgart left-back Borna Sosa, as reported in my last post, with Ryan Sessegnon needing to improve significantly on both his attacking and defensive play.
Destiny Udogie arrives this summer so we could see two new left-sided full-backs.
COYS
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5 comments
There appears to be disunity in the squad and the change in formation, which you might reasonably expect good players to be able to adjust to, if not embrace, led to a capitulation.
RE. "genuine" supporters -I have no respect for the fans who were booing & looking to humiliate Sanchez the previous week, as they've done with Emerson in the past. In fact it makes me feel ashamed to call myself a Spurs fan. At least Sanchez came on and showed some resistance. I wonder who those "fans" will attack next. I'm not sure this is a real football club anymore. Would be very surprised to see Kane stay on unless a better offer doesn't arise or perhaps he's reconciled to the idea of not winning anyt…
I was actually astonished at how bad we were under Nuno, after the initial bright start and I don't think it was all down to him. He did exceedingly well to build & bring the Wolves squad up, into European football no less. He can't be that bad. I think Conte is such a good manager that he got the best from the squad that they could offer, for a season at least. Maybe the playing style wasn't what everyone wants but any movement towards something more progressive have been disastrous.
In my perfect world (excuse me if I get titles & structures wrong), Mr Levy hands the business of football over to a very talented "football" person and let's them run that side of things. Someone who is directly subject to the board and can't be hired or fired by Daniel alone. That person can take on the hiring of a manager, squad development and all other pitch-side af…
Is the 29th March your last post asI have not seen anything since?
I only look for these posts as I do not wish to use Twitter or any other social media 'shout boxes'
I really appreciate your well researched material.