03 January 2023 , 22:30
942
0
Antonio Conte has warned Tottenham face a long wait before they can win the biggest trophies - and he now faces a decision whether he wants to stay.
Conte’s current £15m-a-year deal expires at the end of the season and he believes it will be a long-term project to turn the club back into Premier League title challengers or potential Champions League winners. Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy does have a 12-month option to extend Conte’s contract this summer but they will not exercise it unless the Italian manager wants to stay.
Conte insists that his brief is to rebuild the club, lay the foundations for future success but it will take a lot longer to deliver the success the former Chelsea and Inter Milan boss has been used to in his glittering career.
Spurs boss Conte said: “Here, I understood that my task is different. My task here is to help the club, to build a solid foundation, to create a base, and then to try to improve. This is my task here, this is my challenge here.
“If you ask me the challenge is to win the Premier League here, the Champions League here, that is not my task here in this moment. The task for me is to help the club.
Chelsea complete record-breaking Enzo Fernandez transfer after deadline day rush
“I signed a contract in November 2021 and I found a club in a difficult position for many reasons. Now my task I understood very well was to help the club go in the right direction or to come back in the right direction, about the choices of the players, the work, to create a foundation.
Antonio Conte thinks it will take a long time before Spurs are challengers in the Premier League and Champions League (Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)“Now this is my big challenge here and I have to accept that if I want to stay here I have to accept this. Otherwise if I don’t want to accept this, I have to go.”
Conte insisted after Sunday’s defeat to Aston Villa that Tottenham could not compete with the spending power of clubs like Manchester City, Newcastle, Manchester United and the rest.
Conte added ahead of Palace: “For now the most important thing is the process has started. This is very important. You can accelerate the process very quickly or you can go step by step. It depends on many circumstances.
“Accelerating the process also depends on the other clubs, because you want to improve but the others are going to continue to grow and invest a lot of money. It then becomes difficult.
“You only have one way to follow and we have to stick together, for this reason it is important in this moment to have togetherness between fans, players, club, together.
“We have to stay together and now we are going to do something good if we have time and passion. That is the process I have started. This is the reality now.”