Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur

Premier League • England

Antonio Conte teases possible Tottenham arrival of Italy icon by outlining his potential next role

Antonio Conte before a Tottenham Hotspur match

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte is refusing to rule out the possible appointment to his coaching staff of one of Italian football’s biggest stars over the last 20 years.

The Spurs manager has made a massive impact at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since his appointment on November 2 last year. Indeed, he steered Tottenham back into the Champions League by pipping Arsenal to fourth. And the club are now well placed to secure their place in the knockout stages by currently topping Group D.

Their latest win saw the club record a hard-fought 3-2 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday evening. Having gone a goal down, Spurs went 3-1 up before half-time to put themselves in control. But the Bundesliga side were not done and scored again late on to set up a nervy finish.

Having held on for the win, Tottenham now have seven points from four games played. But with two games left, the wide-open Group D table means they can still finish anywhere from first to fourth. After the game, Conte was far from happy with his players.

As part of Sky Italia’s coverage of the Champions League, they invited Giorgio Chiellini into the studio to analyse the games.

The 38-year-old left Juve at the end of last season after a remarkable 17- season spell. In that time he played 561 times for the club, winning countless trophies and generally regarded as one of their greatest defenders.

Now at Los Angeles Galaxy, Chiellini is starting to give serious thought to the next chapter in his career.

And while an excellent analyser of the game – call him Italy’s version of Jamie Carragher if you will – Conte can see Chiellini stepping into a coaching role.

Antonio Conte drops Giorgio Chiellini hint

After hearing his former Juventus charge was in the studios in his homeland, Conte was certainly impressed. As a result, Sky Italia could not resist a cheeky question to see if he would consider adding Chiellini to his coaching staff.

And Conte’s response did not exactly dismiss the notion altogether.

Indeed, as relayed by Tuttomercatoweb, Conte believes Chielli can one day make it in the game as a manager in his own right.

“He can do everything, especially as a manager I see him doing very well,” Conte said. “He knows how to relate to his teammates, has the qualities of a leader.”

Conte is also imploring Chiellini to turn his thoughts to management once his time as a player is over.

At 38, he completed 11 games for the Galaxy this season just gone. He remains contracted to play for them through another season, by which time he will likely retire.

“Now have this experience in America and re-enter the football that belongs to you with an important role,” Conte stated.

Conte, meanwhile, was less than impressed with his players at having almost chucked away a win against Frankfurt.

“We risked ruining an excellent match. After going behind and being able to do better, we were able to overturn it by creating many opportunities,” Conte explained.

“But we must know that the games end when the referee blows the whistle three times. Instead, we took the result for granted. When this takes over, you concede from a corner and panic.

“In the end, however, we managed to win with an excellent performance and this is the important thing.”

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