Alasdair Gold names who has been given extra time off this month at Spurs

While various Tottenham players are participating in the Qatar World Cup, some of the players not involved have returned to training at Hotspur Way, but Alasdair Gold has revealed on his YouTube channel that Antonio Conte is taking some extra time off.

A total of 12 Spurs players travelled to Qatar for the World Cup. The likes of Harry Kane, Eric Dier, Hugo Lloris, Ivan Perisic, Richarlison, and Cristian Romero will all continue into the knockout stages of the competition after their respective countries made it through the group stages.

Antonio Conte
(Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Ben Davies will be returning home after Denmark and Wales failed to qualify for the next stage. We could also see the likes of Heung-min Son and Rodrigo Bentancur follow them should South Korea and Uruguay bow out today.

The tournament may have come in the middle of the domestic season and caused disruption in many ways, but its timing has also allowed those not involved to get some extra attention and training back at Hotspur Way.

First-team players such as Dejan Kulusevski, Lucas Moura, and Ryan Sessegnon all stayed at home. Many of those players are now back in training, preparing for the second half of the season, but Gold reports Antonio Conte has been absent from the sessions.

He said: “As for the rest of the Spurs players. A load of them came back on Monday at Hotspur Way. It was the non-international players.

“The ones who had some friendlies such as Matt Doherty, got a couple of extra days off. But the ones who weren’t featuring in any internationals came back on Monday.”

On the nature of the training sessions, Gold added: “It was a bit like the start of a pre-season where they were working with the fitness coaches, going through various exercises and stretches.”

That would explain Conte’s absence. Gold said: “Antonio Conte didn’t need to come back for the start of training, which has always been the way in the summer with various managers, so it very much is like a pre-season.

“It gave Conte a bit of extra time off with the family, and then he’ll be back and they’ll kick on into full training.”

Spurs Web Opinion

It’s good to hear the players are back in training now and they’re getting to work closely with the fitness coaches, which will only stand them in good stead for the second half of the season. Antonio Conte can have a bit more time away before coming back and putting the players through their paces in his own special way.

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