Tottenham: Antonio Conte confirmed as new manager

Antonio Conte has been confirmed as the new Tottenham manager. 

As MailOnline exclusively revealed yesterday morning, Nuno Esposito Santo was axed as Spurs head coach, the club confirming the Portuguese’s departure just before 10am. 

The club’s increasingly influential director of football Fabio Paratici moved quickly to identify Nuno’s replacement, with Conte signing a deal until 2023 with an option to extend. He has already met the players as attention swiftly turns to Thursday’s Europa Conference League clash with Vitesse.

Conte said: ‘I am extremely happy to return to coaching, and to do so at a Premier League club that has the ambition to be a protagonist again.

‘Tottenham Hotspur has state-of-the-art facilities and one of the best stadiums in the world. I can’t wait to start working to convey to the team and the fans the passion, mentality and determination that have always distinguished me, as a player and as a coach.

‘Last summer our union did not happen because the end of my relationship with Inter was still too recent and emotionally too involved with the end of the season, so I felt that it wasn’t yet the right time to return to coaching.

‘But the contagious enthusiasm and determination of Daniel Levy in wanting to entrust me with this task had already hit the mark. Now that the opportunity has returned, I have chosen to take it with great conviction.’

The Italian will arrive at the club barely 24 hours after the sacking of Nuno Espirito Santo

It is understood Conte, who has a long-term relationship with Paratici, has agreed a contract with a pro-rata salary of around £13million.  

There was growing optimism at Tottenham on Monday afternoon that Conte would be their next manager, with one well-placed source insisting the deal was as good as done.

Indeed, players were told to expect the new manager to be in situ to take this morning’s training session at the club’s Enfield HQ.

And his arrival was rubber-stamped late on Monday night.

Conte won the Premier League title back in 2017 when he was manager of Chelsea 

In his last position, Conte delivered Serie A glory to Inter Milan for the first time since 2010

Conte came close to joining Spurs in the summer but eventually decided against taking the role amid concerns over the club’s ambition.

Conte’s appointment will be viewed as a major victory for the club given his standing as one of the planet’s leading coaches.

He has been heavily linked with replacing under-fire Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United. 

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy (bottom right) was alarmed by the team’s Manchester United loss

Tottenham director of football Fabio Paratici (centre) moved rapidly to secure Conte

And the 52-year-old’s track record of proven success will come as a reason for huge optimism for supporters, who have grown fed-up at the direction the club is headed. 

Sportsmail reported on Sunday how Nuno was on the brink of the sack following the disastrous defeat and performance during the 3-0 loss to United on Saturday, the game that sealed his fate.

Sportsmail understands Nuno arrived at the club’s Enfield training ground yesterday morning as normal only to be informed of the club’s decision to remove him.

Nuno is understood to have earned in the region of £3million a year at Spurs and is now due compensation, but he is expected to be placed on gardening leave until he finds a new job.

Paratici said: ‘I know how much Nuno and his coaching staff wanted to succeed and I regret that we have had to take this decision.

‘Nuno is a true gentleman and will always be welcome here. We would like to thank him and his coaching staff and wish them well for the future.’