Tottenham Hotspur losing four of their last five Premier League fixtures is all but seeing their hopes of a top-five finish slip away. Following Burnley’s 1-0 loss, manager Antonio Conte questioned his future with the north London club.
Conte came aboard in November and turned Spurs season around after their tough start leading to the sacking of Nuno Espírito Santo. The Italian tactician got them back into thinking about qualifying for the UEFA Champions League.
However, issues over the January transfer window and interviews with media outlets in Italy showed some cracks. Nonetheless, as Forbes‘ Robert Kidd writes, ‘Conte also knew what he was getting in Spurs.’
“He has said he is more used to challenging for the title than the top four, which is true, but that isn’t the case for Spurs,” Kidd wrote.
“The club last won the championship in 1961, and the closest it has come in recent years was the 2016/17 season, when it finished second, seven points behind Chelsea, then managed by Conte.”
The journalist states Conte wants to challenge for top-four and trophies and outlines Spurs’ inability to keep up with the spending regarding how much the other Premer League clubs can do to strengthen their squads.
“In the January transfer window, Spurs got rid of the players Conte reportedly didn’t trust and brought in two replacements,” Kidd added.
“Perhaps this was insufficient in Conte’s mind. But he knows Spurs does not have the same spending power as the Premier League’s top three of Manchester City, Liverpool, and Chelsea.
It will be interesting to see whether Conte remains until the end of the season and in the future as he’s under contract for another year.