BREAKING: Antonio Conte to Tottenham OFF

Hey remember a few hours ago when news dropped that Antonio Conte was potentially having second thoughts about becoming Tottenham Hotspur’s next manager? I believe the words I used were “don’t panic.”

OK, now you can panic. News broke just a while ago that apparently the gulf between Tottenham and Conte was too wide, and that Tottenham have ended their interest in appointing the mercurial Italian manager. Here’s Dan Kilpatrick.

I’ve been away from the internet and my laptop for the span of about two hours, which clearly was a big mistake because I’m only now getting caught up to this news. Multiple sources are now reporting that the deal is off, as Conte has concerns not only about the scope of the project — Tottenham being farther back from competing for titles than he originally thought — but also there are gulfs in transfer funding available and wage demands.

Here’s Fabrizio Romano:

This is shocking not only because it fell apart so quickly, but also because the reports from the Italian media indicating issues with the appointment were in fact completely accurate. Romano does confirm that Fabio Paratici is going to accept the Tottenham Director of Football position, so at least there’s that, but Spurs are now back to the drawing board and will be looking at other candidates. Is that Mauricio Pochettino? Graham Potter? Erik Ten Hag? ...Roberto Martinez? Nobody knows!

We’ll update this story as we learn more.

Edit: Here’s Alasdair Gold, saying Spurs actually pulled the plug on Conte’s demands, not the other way around.