Antonio Conte has told football.london that he expects 'zero problems' in continuing as Tottenham boss for the long term if the club continues on its current path and he wants Harry Kane to join him.
Conte was notoriously non-committal about his future at Spurs for much of last season, swerving questions on it and even hinting that he might not make it to the end of the campaign at one point. However, in the summer he was quickly convinced about the club's ambition for the future and six new signings quickly followed with the Italian allowed to call Tottenham's tune along with managing director of football Fabio Paratici.
Conte has been a happy man during Spurs' summer tours to South Korea, Glasgow and Israel and he excited Tottenham fans on Friday when he said in Tel Aviv that he was looking to work with this squad for "many years".
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On Saturday, as Spurs' time in Israel came to an end with a 1-0 friendly defeat to Jose Mourinho's Roma in Haifa, when asked if a new deal could be in the offing Conte told football.london that he is not a man who is focused on contracts but he needs to feel that excitement, which he very much is at Tottenham.
Conte has another season remaining on his current deal with Spurs and there is the option to extend it for another year if both sides agree to that addition.
"I have to be honest. In my career the contract was never important. I didn't need to sign contracts for one, two or three years. For the club it could also be a weight," he said. "I'm happy, I'm happy. We're working really well together. It's not that one year on the contract more or less can change the situation.
"For sure we want to continue to improve, to build something important for this club. If the idea continues to be in this way, there will be zero problems to continue my life in Tottenham because I stay well and I like this group of players and I have a good relationship with Paratici and with Daniel Levy.
"I repeat that I'm not a coach who needs to sign a contract for money. I don't need that. In this moment I don't need this. I need to have enthusiasm and the passion for this role."
There has also been plenty of contract talk around Spurs' players with Ben Davies having just penned a new deal until 2025 and Harry Kane and Eric Dier now entering the final two years of their deals.
Conte is delighted with the Welshman's new contract and he expects Tottenham to offer similar to Dier and Kane, who has looked sharp in pre-season with five goals in the four matches. football.london understands that the England captain, who turned 29 on Thursday, is open to discussing fresh terms with the club following the progress and ambition shown under Conte.
"Yeah first of all Ben Davies deserved to sign a new contract because last season he played in an outstanding way and he's a really good guy," said Conte. "He's always positive and to have a player like him in your starting XI or on the bench at this level I think is important.
"Then for sure the club will want to try to renew the contract of their best players. You know very well that Harry is for us is an important player, but I see him very happy. I see him happy. His feelings are positive but at the same time we have to understand that if we want to reach something important we have to fight in every game and tonight they showed yeah we played football but the opponent won."
He added: "I think honestly that I'm happy this [defeat] happened because to start the season in this way we keep calm and then we are focused. We are not going to lose our concentration and our focus.
"We know that we can do better than last season but in England it's very difficult and if we are not concentrated 100% or you think that you are better and you don't show this on the pitch you risk sliding quickly."
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