mrlilywhite
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- Sep 1, 2008
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Antonio Conte’s dramatic return to English football as head coach of Tottenham Hotspur is set to be confirmed after the Italian flew to London just hours after the club sacked Nuno Espirito Santo.
Former Chelsea manager Conte will sign a contract that is expected to initially run to the end of next season and is worth around £20million, just five months after rejecting an offer to take over at Spurs.
Tottenham’s players are ready for Conte to take training on Tuesday, with chairman Daniel Levy preparing to quickly confirm Nuno’s successor.
Telegraph Sport exclusively revealed that talks had opened with Conte on Monday morning, as Tottenham officially confirmed the departure of Nuno in a club statement.
Just hours after the news of Nuno’s sacking, Conte arrived in London to meet Levy and Fabio Paratici, Tottenham’s managing director of football, face-to-face to finalise his appointment.
Conte’s appointment will be a huge coup for Spurs and will give the club a much-needed lift following the mutinous atmosphere that followed Nuno’s final game in charge - a 3-0 home defeat against Manchester United.
Telegraph Sport had exclusively revealed that Levy held urgent talks over Nuno’s future with a view to sacking him on Sunday and on Monday morning the club released a statement that said: “The club can today announce that Nuno Espírito Santo and his coaching staff Ian Cathro, Rui Barbosa and Antonio Dias have been relieved of their duties.”
Paratici said: “I know how much Nuno and his coaching staff wanted to succeed and I regret that we have had to take this decision.
“Nuno is a true gentleman and will always be welcome here. We would like to thank him and his coaching staff and wish them well for the future.”
The statement added: “A further coaching update will follow in due course.”
The next coaching update should be to confirm the appointment of Conte, who has won Serie A titles in charge of Juventus and Inter Milan, and won the Premier League with Chelsea.
Antonio Conte led Chelsea to the Premier League title in his first season in charge, in 2017 CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
Tottenham first made an approach to Conte at the start of June, before the appointment of Nuno, but could not convince the 52-year-old to make an immediate return to management after leaving Inter Milan and talks broke down.
Conte has since been linked with Manchester United, but Spurs have moved decisively with a second approach that on Monday progressed rapidly to the brink of being formally completed.
Despite the breakdown in talks in the summer, Conte and Spurs remained on good terms thanks in part to the relationship he shares with Paratici, whom he worked with at Juventus.
Conte is understood to have been impressed by Tottenham’s refusal to sell Harry Kane, together with the summer signings the club made, which has helped to convince him of Levy’s ambition.
Having enjoyed a break since leaving Inter Milan, Conte also now feels in a better position to take on his next challenge and throw himself fully into another project.
Conte always maintained that his decision to turn down Spurs was not financial, but he is expected to be given money to spend in the January transfer window in a bid to fight for a top-four place. At least one new central defender is expected to be on his wish-list.
The defeat to United left Tottenham five points behind fourth-placed West Ham United after just 10 games of the season and ahead of Sunday’s Premier League trip to Everton before the international break.
Spurs are also in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, where they will face West Ham, and entertain Vitesse Arnhem in the Europa Conference League on Thursday night, which could be Conte’s first match in charge.
Replacing Nuno, who was thought to earn around £3m-a-year, with Conte will be a costly process for Levy, although the Spurs chairman is likely to have attempted to save himself an immediate lump sum pay-out by placing the Portuguese on gardening leave.
Both Mauricio Pochettino and Jose Mourinho were placed on six-month gardening leave, during which time they were paid their monthly salary, and Mourinho saved Levy millions by quickly returning to management at Roma.
Assuming he too has been placed on gardening leave, Nuno, whose Tottenham contract ran to the end of next season, will also save Levy money if he finds a new job within six months.
