Arsenal legend Perry Groves has claimed that some Tottenham players have realised they do not have a future at the club under Antonio Conte.
After a fine start to his reign at Tottenham, Conte has found it difficult to consistently get a tune out of the side since the turn of the year.
Not only are the Lilywhites out of all the cup competitions but they also have a mountain to climb to achieve Champions League qualification.
The Spurs head coach has not hidden his frustration, admitting that the project at Tottenham is different to most ones he has had in his career, given how far away the club is from competing for major honours (Independent).
Groves insisted that while all of Arsenal’s players buy into Mikel Arteta’s ideas, the same cannot be said of the Spurs squad under Conte.
The pundit told The Daily Express: “At the moment, you would have to say that Spurs have an elite manager in Antonio Conte, you’d have to put him in the top five managers in the world.
“Arsenal have a manager I think is on his way to being elite but is still learning his trade.
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“The difference between the two teams is that Arsenal have a group of players that are totally buying into what their manager wants to do, there is a togetherness there, a team spirit there.
“Whereas at Spurs I think they have a lot of average players that have worked out that Antonio Conte does not fancy them.
“As a manager sometimes you have to be an actor, you have to pretend that the players have a future but I think a few of them have sussed that out.”
Groves admitted he has his doubts over whether Conte will get the kind of backing he is looking for in the summer and insisted that Tottenham’s North London rivals are in a much better position as things stand.
He added: “If you look going forward, there is as good as anybody with Harry Kane and Heung-min Son, Lucas Moura comes in as well.
“But in other areas, especially in midfield, it is distinctly average so I would rather be in Arsenal’s camp at the moment because I see more of a philosophy.
“The problem is whether or not Daniel Levy is going to back Conte ahead of next season, to get the deadwood out and get the players in that he wants and that is going to take a massive investment and I am not sure that he is willing to do that.”
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I am sure that Conte will be backed in a major way this summer as Levy knows that the pressure will mount on him if the Italian walks away. However, I worry that Kane will push for a move again in the summer and that Conte might not want to see the project through if the England captain is sold.
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