Antonio Conte: Tottenham assistant offers update after training ground return

Tottenham assistant Cristian Stellini has admitted he is not yet sure whether Antonio Conte will take charge of the team’s meeting with Leicester City at the weekend.

Conte had his gallbladder removed recently and left the team to Stellini while he recovered, but the Italian has since returned to England and was spotted leading Tottenham training on Thursday.

However, Stellini confessed that Conte has been told to ‘take it easy’ for a few days and could not confirm who would be in charge of the team for Saturday’s visit to the King Power Stadium.

“Antonio is back. This morning he was on the pitch with us,” Stellini revealed.

“He has to take it easy for a bit but we were so happy to meet him again at the training ground. He spent time hugging everyone.

“He didn’t speak about what he would do in the next match but he is back and we are happy.”

With Conte’s health now positive again, fans’ focus has returned to the boss’ future at the club. Conte’s contract expires at the end of the season, although Spurs do have the option to extend his stay by a further 12 months.

At the moment, Spurs are unsure what the future holds for Conte and Stellini admitted he is none the wiser.

“No, we never talk about that,” Stellini added. “We are so focused on the moment and the next game, the next training and the next step we have to do, the next solution we have to try to create and build within the team. We have never spoken about this.

“In football you cannot be relaxed if you have a contract or not. You have to work hard and when you approach the next game, you can’t be relaxed and you live this with energy because you want to win, so you don’t have time to talk about the future.

“This is our life, this is football, this is sport, you think about the next target you want to achieve. What you want to achieve is only this so you’re not relaxed with or without a contract.”