Report explains Conte’s bizarre practice with Spurs academy players

Football.London have revealed that Antonio Conte would often disrupt the Tottenham academy coaches’ plans by calling up youth players to first-team training at short notice.

Since Conte’s departure from Tottenham, several reports had indicated that the first-team players had grown tired of some of the Italian’s methods and behaviours.

The Daily Mail revealed a few days ago that one of the things that irked the squad was the 53-year-old’s tendency to schedule training sessions at extremely short notice.

The Italian is even once thought to have brought an afternoon training session forward to 11 am following Tottenham’s Champions League defeat at Lisbon back in September, despite the fact that he players only arrived back in London in the early hours of the morning.

Football.London have now revealed that Conte’s planning also had an adverse impact on the academy players and coaches at Spurs.

It is explained that the departed Spurs head coach used to disrupt the plans of those in the academy by dragging Under-21 players out of their training sessions at the last minute.

It is alleged that Conte would even drag some Under-21 stars away before a youth match just so they can take up a static position in one of his drills.

Spurs Web Opinion

We know from Conte’s managerial career that he is not a manager of a Pochettino or Guardiola mould, who takes a holistic view of the club.

The Italian very much believes that all the resources are primarily only available to aid the first-team, which not only explains the aforementioned behaviour but also his tendency to sign readymade players rather than handing opportunities to youngsters.