Tottenham forward Dejan Kulusevski has confirmed that he will be a Tottenham player regardless of whether or not Antonio Conte remains in charge of the club.
The future of Conte as Tottenham boss is under serious threat after an astonishing outburst that he made following a 3-3 draw to Southampton, in which he took aim at the players, staff, owners and club.
“I think it’s better to go into the problem, we are not a team,” he said. “We are 11 players that go into the pitch. I see selfish players, players that don’t want to help each other and don’t put their heart [into it]. This season compared to last, now we are worse in this aspect. When you are not a team you cannot improve.”
They don’t play for something important, yeah. They don’t want to play under pressure, they don’t want to play under stress.
“It is easy in this way. Tottenham’s story is this, 20 years there is the owner and they never won something but why? The fault is only for the club, or for every manager that stay here. I have seen the managers that Tottenham had on the bench. You risk to disrupt the figure of the manager and to protect the other situation in every moment. Until now I try to hide the situation but now, no, because I repeat I don’t want to see what I have seen today.”
Conte was a huge reason that Kulusevski joined Tottenham in January 2022, with the Swede having been keen to play under the Italian manager before he joined Juventus.
“Conte situation will not affect the club’s buy option for me — absolutely not. I want to stay at Spurs, of course”
On the press conference in particular, the Swede added that ‘“He wasn’t happy and that’s what he thinks. We have to respect that he’s not happy. But I can look myself in the mirror knowing I always give everything I have on the pitch.”
Conte’s future remains up in the air, with the Lilywhites hierarchy still pondering whether to part ways with the Italian during this international break.
Asked about whether he thought the manager will leave, Kulusevski added “Right now he is still there and we all have to take that into account. I don’t know what it will be, but as in life things change. Then you have to be ready for change and life will still go on.”
Irrespective of the future of Conte, which is increasingly likely to be a short one in north London, it appears that Spurs fans can rest easy in the knowledge that they will not be losing one of their stars, especially in light of the speculation surrounding the future of Harry Kane this summer.
