Antonio Conte says he decided to stay at Tottenham amid uncertainty about his future earlier in the year because he believes in the club’s project.
Conte joined Spurs in November after Nuno Espirito Santo was sacked following a dreadful start to the season. The Italian’s arrival in north London was seen as a major coup for chairman Daniel Levy, but just months later his place at the club was cast into doubt.
Back in April, the 52-year-old was strongly linked to become a successor to ex-Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino at Paris Saint-Germain. Conte dismissed the reports as “lies” and “fake news” , but he openly said his long-term future at the club would depend on how ambitious it was.
Tottenham have now backed Conte with serious investment in the transfer window, having so far signed six players this summer. And with optimism there now ahead of the 2022/23 season, Conte has opened up on why he decided to commit to Spurs.
"[It was] because I said that we have just started the project,” he told football.london . “I signed a two-year contract for Tottenham, and then when I spoke with the club, we understood that we wanted to build something important. "We have to know for sure it’s not simple because in England in this moment there are three teams that in the previous season finished in front of us.
" Chelsea, but especially Liverpool and Manchester City with 20 and more points higher than us, and United last season was a bad season. We overcame Arsenal in the last three games and you have to know that in England the situation is not simple, but at the same time we are working to improve the squad, because I think last season we worked very hard for the big achievement of the Champions League.”
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Spurs have been extremely busy in the early stages of the transfer window, bringing in Ivan Perisic, Fraser Forster, Yves Bissouma, Richarlison, Clement Lenglet and Djed Spence. The recruitment spree makes them the busiest side in the Premier League so far and Conte is pleased with their work.
"Now we want to improve and I think it was very important to sign players like [Rodrigo] Bentancur and [Dejan] Kulusevski in January, because in January four players went on loan and then we signed two players,” he added.
“Now we move at the right time to try to improve the team and the quality aspect, and also the numerical aspect because we have four competitions – the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup – and if we want to be competitive we have to have a good squad but we have to know that we have just started this path.
"I see that other teams, they are signing important players and they’ve spent a lot of money, but it’s normal in England because the level is very high and the others have the same idea."
