Antonio Conte is preparing to bolster his Tottenham Hotspur squad in the January transfer window and one of his targets is Manchester United defender Eric Bailly.
Antonio Conte became the head coach of Spurs on November 2, 2021, after being touted as a potential replacement for sacked Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, in a move that surprised the football world.
It’s still too early to judge the Italian’s impact at the North London club, but Spurs fans are beginning to see the impact of his team selection and tactics. Now the 52-year-old is looking to bring in the type of players that fit his style of football, and Eric Bailly is top of his list, according to reports.
The 27-year-old Ivorian defender has had a torrid time at Manchester United due to injuries since joining the Red Devils over five seasons ago, with some of those injuries keeping him out for more than half of a season.
He has now fallen out of favour at United despite being fit enough to play this season, with only 45 minutes of Premier League football under his belt and 17 total Premier League appearances in the last three seasons.
Reports have now claimed that Antonio Conte has held discussions with the Tottenham Hotspur management to sign the defender in January.
Conte is a big fan of Bailly, Duncan Castles says
Speaking on The Transfer Window Podcast, football reporter Duncan Castles claims that Conte really admires the qualities of Eric Bailly.
“One of the individuals they’re in discussion about, although as I understand it, no offer has been made at this point, is Manchester United player, Eric Bailly,” Castles said in the November 24, 2021 episode of the podcast.
“He is someone who Conte likes, and was looking at as a possible recruit at Inter. He is obviously one of the players who got the roughest handling firm Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, extremely unhappy with the way he was treated by Solskjaer, felt that it was ridiculous that Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof were continually selected ahead of him almost regardless of what they did on the pitch.
“He actually expressed that after the Leicester defeat.”
However, Castles admits that it won’t be as easy as it would’ve been to take Eric Bailly off United’s hands now that Solskjaer has left the club, which implies that Eric Bailly could’ve been open to the move seeing as he was dissatisfied with the Norwegian’s handling of him.
“Bailly is not pushing for a move away,” Castles said. “He wants to prove himself at Manchester United. He looks at the players there and believes he is better than at least two of the regular starting centre-backs and now, we will see if he can get the opportunity under a new coach.”
Antonio Conte looks to shore up Spurs defence with two new centre-backs.
Antonio Conte is not looking at only Eric Bailly for his defence, according to Castle. The Italian wants to sign two centre-backs in the January transfer window.
Spurs’ defence has been particularly poor this season due to injuries and general form. Castles said that Conte wants to quickly get his five-at-the-back system working quickly and that two centre backs will help speed up this process.
Antonio Conte is credited with bringing the 3-5-2 formation back to life since its natural death at the turn of the millennium. He has won countless titles with this formation and has inspired a lot of managers who have added their own twists to the formation.
Spurs fans can look forward to seeing this formation work in their team as they have the perfect players for the system, but its quick implementation will depend on Conte getting his centre-backs.