Tottenham head coach Antonio Conte admits Premier League meeting felt like waste of time | Football News
Antonio Conte says he felt as though Thursday’s meeting with the Premier League was a ‘waste of time’.
Player welfare and fixture list congestion were among some of the big concerns of managers and coaches heading into a special meeting with the Premier League on Thursday.
Asked how he felt it went, Tottenham head coach Conte said: “I have to be honest I think that it was a meeting where we tried to speak, and some coaches tried to speak and ask about solutions.
“But I think that everything was decided. And I think yesterday was a wall, and for this reason also I don’t want to go into the discussion.”
Pressed on whether he felt it was a waste of time, Conte said: “I think so. Because when you have a wall in front of you, you can ask and speak about what you want, but every decision was taken.”
Conte also confirmed that the players who were all unavailable due to a recent Covid-19 outbreak in the squad are all back in training, with only Cristian Romero and Ryan Sessegnon currently sidelined.
Bergwijn still has Spurs future amid foreign interest
Steven Bergwijn still has a future at Tottenham amid interest from Ajax and Sevilla ahead of the January transfer window.
Clubs in France and Germany are also keen on Bergwijn and were considering an approach had he remained absent from the side under Antonio Conte, who has preferred Heung-Min Son and Lucas Moura playing behind Harry Kane.
But Bergwijn’s performance in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final win over West Ham – when he scored one goal and assisted another – as well as his recent displays in training have put the forward firmly into Conte’s plans.
A recent spell at Hotspur Way in which Conte was able to work more closely with Bergwijn while other players were off with Covid has breathed new life into his Spurs career.
Sky Sports News has been told the Dutchman trained very well during this time and is in great shape.
Following Bergwijn’s match-winning performance, which set up a semi-final with Chelsea, Conte said: “I think these two weeks that we had many players with Covid helped me and helped Steven to understand very well what I want from him and what I want from the other 11 players we had in training.
“Don’t forget, for many days we trained with only 11 or 12 players. On one hand, it was very difficult. On the other hand, we exploited this situation to improve the players.
“We prepared to play the games with these players. For sure, Steven should have played against Leicester, against Brighton, the games that were postponed.
“With him and also other players, we tried to exploit the period when we were only 11 or 12 players, to improve these players.
“Now Steven is a player totally involved into what I want, into what I ask from my players.”
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