Should Man Utd move for Conte NOW?

Martin Macdonald

• 25 Feb 2022 09:47 GMT
• 6 min read

Manchester United might have been handed a unique opportunity to make a move for Tottenham manager Antonio Conte after the Italian cast doubt on his future at Spurs after a recent loss to Burnley.

Following the underwhelming tenure of Nuno Espirito Santo, Tottenham successfully appointed the Italian as his replacement, having tried and failed to bring him to North London the previous summer.

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Conte has took charge of Tottenham on 21 occasions now, winning 11, losing seven and drawing three.

It has often been one step forward and two steps back at Spurs under him, as the team followed up a superb victory over Manchester City at the weekend with a defeat against bottom side, Burnley.

After the loss against Burnley, Conte admitted that his position as manager would need to be assessed by the club.

“I think Tottenham called me to improve the situation, but I’m too honest. I’m too honest to close my eyes, you understand, and to continue to say ‘ok I want to finish the season in this way and ok my salary is good’,” he said.

“But I’m not this type of person. I have ambition, I’m a person who has ambition, I hate to lose and we lost, I repeat, four games in the last five games. And for me, I repeat, this is unacceptable.

“I won’t accept this. I want to try to improve the situation and also to make assessment with the club because if we continue in this way, maybe we have to pay great attention because in this league we can finish 10th, 12th, 13th the same way that when I arrive here, the same position.”

Man Utd to take advantage?

It is unlikely that Conte will be sacked by Spurs, but it is getting to the point when a resignation is not out of the question, depending on how the Italian views his future.

Whether or not that happens, Man Utd should be asking the question to Conte to see if he would be open to the idea of moving to Old Trafford now or in the summer.

The Red Devils failed to appoint Conte, or indeed Mauricio Pochettino, in order to keep blind faith in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for a couple of years.

At the moment, the club finds itself in the strange position of having a caretaker manager in charge in Ralf Rangnick who will take up a position in the boardroom as an advisor this summer.

A new head coach is desired, and Pochettino is near the top of the list along with Ajax's Erik ten Hag.

However, should Conte become available, he will find himself as a massive favourite, too.

Former Newcastle and Manchester City goalkeeper Shay Given believes Man Utd need someone like Conte in charge.

"When you come out with comments like that, it looks like he's itching to get away from the place - and then we talked about Man United. I think there's a perfect fit there," he told talkSPORT.

"Maybe, just maybe, someone from the red side of Manchester will be in contact, because it feels like Man United need a character like him that's really strong to sort that dressing room out."