Tottenham assistant head coach Cristian Stellini has revealed that a decision on Antonio Conte's return will be made on Saturday. On Wednesday it was confirmed by the club that the Spurs boss would undergo surgery to remove his gallbladder after recently becoming unwell with severe abdominal pain.
Conte confirmed later on Wednesday that his surgery went well and that he was feeling much better. Amid question marks over when exactly the 53-year-old would return to his Tottenham duties as he has to have a period of recuperation, Stellini has outlined that a final decision will be made on the eve of Sunday's Premier League encounter vs Man City.
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"We don't know yet when Antonio is coming back. Everything is possible," said the Italian in his pre-match press conference. "The surgery was good, he is recovering well. At the moment he is at home, so we have two days for the game and everything can happen."
"We don't know yet, the decision will be made tomorrow. Nothing we are ready to do everything and Antonio and probably the doctors that did the surgery for him that have to decide. But we have 48 hours, we have two days to decide. We have time."
Asked by football.london about keeping Conte calm on his return, Stellini added: "I think no one here can keep Antonio calm! So he knows obviously to have surgery and a surprise like he had on Sunday, it's is not easy.
"He’s an intelligent man so he knows very well what happened to him. It’s not the worst surgery you can have but it’s surgery so you have to be careful and Antonio has to be."
Tottenham will go into the Man City match with a fully-fit squad as Richarlison has returned from the small problem which kept him out at Preston North End last weekend, while Lucas Moura has been involved in training this week after a lengthy absence.
"Yes we have. Like I said after the last game Richarlison had a small problem and now he is available. He has been training in this week and he is available," said Stellini.
"No, no [new] injuries. We recover also Lucas and we are happy to say that because Lucas has been training this week. He played 45 minutes with the young team and is back."
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