The Sun’s Martin Lipton has revealed that Antonio Conte’s unwillingness to continue at Tottenham is due to off-field reasons, with the Italian wanting to be close to his loved ones back in his home country.
Gianluca Di Marzio explained on his official website on Sunday that although Tottenham had offered Conte a new contract, the 53-year-old does not want to think about the future for the time being.
The journalist explained that the Spurs boss had put the contract talks on ‘stand by’ and added that he expects the former Inter boss’ adventure in North London to come to an end in the summer.
Conte himself admitted to Football.London last week that losing close friends like Gian Piero Ventrone, Sinisa Mihajlovic and Gianluca Vialli over recent months has made him question his priorities this season and caused him to reflect on the fact that he is living away from his family.
Lipton has now revealed that the Tottenham head coach does not want to live away from home any longer.
The journalist told Off The Ball about Conte: “I can’t see any way that he’s at the club next season at the moment. For a variety of reasons, but he gave the primary reason in the press conference before the game. It’s nothing to do with the board, the players or transfers or any of that.
MORE SPURS STORIES
“He fears that he’s getting old, he’s had a number of close friends die recently and he’s reassessing his life and asking ‘do I really want to be away from home any longer?’ and the answer is no.
“It’s a perfectly normal human reaction. He’s professional and he won’t leave now, but I don’t think his heart is in it right now because he feels he’s let people down by being away and he wants to go home.”
Spurs Web Opinion
If that is the case, it is perfectly understandable. Losing three close friends in quick succession would be extremely difficult on anyone and it would have been particularly hard for Conte to handle, given that he is staying away from his loved ones in London.
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
