Antonio Conte won the Serie A title with Juventus in each of the 2011/12, 12/13 and 13/14 seasons, and was named the best manager in Italy each time.
He left in August 2014, to take over the Italian national team, but was back in club management as soon as 2016, when Chelsea came calling. Conte won the Premier League in his first season, the FA Cup for the Blues in his second, and left Stamford Bridge in July 2018, having failed to qualify for the Champions League.
After a season out of the game, he took over at Inter Milan, winning Serie A in his second season before deciding to leave due to issue’s with the club’s ownership.
Next stop for the manager was Tottenham Hotspur, and Spurs fans welcomed the appointment, hoping Conte could bring some of the same success to them.
That may be more difficult at Tottenham than previous clubs, simply given the amount of competition in the Premier League. Whatever happens, it’s unlikely to damage his reputation and there’s always likely to be clubs interested in him, and this week’s links with PSG show.
The reputation was building before Juventus, but it’s there that he tasted glory at the highest level. Part of his team was Giorgio Chiellini, and the defender has spoken to Amazon, relayed by TMW, about the huge impact Conte had on his game.
TMW quote Chiellini as saying: “The new football? Conte brought it to us for the first time, then we continued with different facets, but Antonio really changed our vision of football. I never thought of starting to play with the desire to dribble inside the area, to look for a through ball.
“I am always for a balance as in all things, but it is clear that now in football having control of the game and of the ball is increasingly important. I don’t like those who really don’t play at all, but neither do I like those who play even when it is not needed and they do it only for pure aesthetics.”
Tottenham fans will be hoping Conte can turn his Spurs side into a functional unit in the mould of that Juventus team.
