On Thursday, we covered quotes from Antonio Conte to the Italian media about a potential reunion with Giorgio Chiellini.
The Los Angeles FC defender was a guest on Sky Italia to analyse the 3-2 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, and the Tottenham manager was asked if he wanted to work with the 38-year-old again.
The Spurs boss quickly lauded the veteran, having worked with him at Juventus and in the Italy national team, and hinted the centre-back would be a great manager going forward.
That sort of answered the question, and Chiellini was asked a similar one, on whether he would be happy to go to Tottenham to be a player under Conte once more.
He replied, relayed by Il Bianconero: “Not as a player, at 36, I couldn’t do it. When I saw the exhausted players in South Korea during pre-season, I wrote to Paratici. It reminded me that we went through the same thing.”
Basically, he’s saying that the way Conte works is too hard for him now, as the Tottenham manager asks for a lot from his players physically to play the type of football he wants to see on the pitch.
It might be a bit late for Chiellini, but perhaps there might be a role for him at Spurs down the line as a staff member once he hangs up his boots?
