Antonio Conte could stay at Tottenham Hotspur for the long term according to his assistant head coach Cristian Stellini.
The Spurs boss has been coy about his future when asked in recent weeks, with his contract ending at the conclusion of this season but with the north London club holding an option to extend his deal by a further 12 months. Tottenham are keen to hand Conte a new longer term deal but the Italian has suggested that he needs to be convinced by what lies for the club and whether their ambitions match his.
After hearing of the death of his former Juventus team-mate and friend Gianluca Vialli, Conte was too upset to speak to the media ahead of the FA Cup third round tie against Portsmouth and instead Stellini stepped in.
READ MORE: How Bryan Gil changed Conte's mind, those Marcus Edwards links and Doherty's Kane transfer hint
"It's hard to talk about [Conte losing a number of close friends in recent months]. Gian Piero (Ventrone) was a really tough moment. Then came the moment of [Sinisa] Mihajlovic. Antonio and Mihajlovic were friends. Now is the moment of Vialli. It is a tough moment. It's difficult," said Stellini.
"For us to speak about the moment you have in the deep. Antonio is a tough man. Maybe this moment is more closed to show his feelings. Only this. We have to stay close to him, stay together. This is a family behaviour. We are, we feel, like a family. After this type of loss, you have to stay so close to show love."
Stellini believes that Conte is a man who pours himself into football in tough moments like this.
"About football? Yes [we speak]. About work? Absolutely, we speak a lot. To speak about other things is more difficult. In the tough moments, maybe you don't show, or the silence is more than words. We are in that moment," said the coach.
"He doesn't drop the intensity. He can find new energy, because this is the type of man. This is Antonio."
When asked about the pair's future at Tottenham along with their coaching staff amid the contract talk, Stellini said there is a confidence in the work they are doing and how long they will remain in north London.
"Every time we have confidence on this. It's not about the contract. It's about the project, it's about the future, and we are confident every time," he said. "Fifteen months is not a big period. We are in the way we expect after 15 months. For that reason we are in confidence.
"I don't know [how long it will take to reach success]. We don't know, but we are in the right moment after 15 months, if we compare our period to other periods in the past. We are in a good moment. We have to work. Like Antonio has said many times, we need passion and heart in the work.
"It's not the time of the contract that decides. Your behaviour is the work you do to decide the result. We are confident to stay here a long time because we are working hard and the players follow us."
Conte is a man who by his own description is not good to be around after a defeat and Stellini admitted that his compatriot makes it very clear to his players in different ways when he is unhappy.
"There is not only one way to explain to the player how he is upset when you lose a game. He can't sleep. He thinks much more about what he has to do to improve and to let the players understand how you can enjoy after you win and how you can be upset after you don't win. You have to hate that moment to try to find every time the winning feeling after a game," said the assistant boss.
The last two matches have brought chants from the Spurs calling for chairman Daniel Levy to leave Tottenham and Stellini said that the club has to stick together through tough moments.
"This type of situation creates inside a behaviour to be compact, we need togetherness. We have to be together in this situation, create this behaviour, and we are proud to be together and to work. If we have to show something, it's to be compact, and that's it," he said.
"We can't argue with the fans. The fans show what they want, but we have to be compact, to show to the fans that we are ready to play a tough game and play well like we did at Crystal Palace. I don't think it was a disaster that match [against Villa]. We played a good game. Maybe we were more unlikely than other times.
"The team played a good 60 minutes, very good. We had not many chances but Aston Villa played a great game defensively and they had one opportunity and scored. We want to play the type of match in the way we play. We have to score before, absolutely, but create the desire to stay compact."
He added: "After the match we don't talk about many things because you have to recover the energy, but the day after, we have a meeting, and for sure we speak about this. The board, Antonio, the staff, the players – you can feel they want to show to the fans that we are together, to bring them victories or a match like at Palace."
READ NEXT:
Daniel Levy's uncomfortable moment and Antonio Conte's rather hypocritical Tottenham request
Franck Kessie, Tete and Antonio Conte's two Tottenham January transfer window priorities
Dejan Kulusevski was 'terrified' of Tottenham move but admits Conte is 'very nice on the inside'
Antonio Conte's clear Tottenham transfer message, Djed Spence mess and Kane's unwanted attention
Every word Antonio Conte said on not signing a defender and why all fans should clap Harry Kane
