There are reports Italian tactician Antonio Conte is ‘unlikely’ to be on the Tottenham Hotspur bench against Manchester City after undergoing surgery earlier this week.
The former Juventus, Chelsea and Italy coach was diagnosed with cholecystitis after suffering from severe abdominal pain and went under the knife to have his gallbladder removed.
He had hoped to recover in time to sit on the bench for Sunday’s Premier League showdown with Manchester City.
However, the latest reports suggest that is ‘unlikely’ and therefore his assistant Cristian Stellini will take over.
It’s hardly the first time that Stellini has had to stand in for Conte, especially as he effectively was in charge during the first four months of their tenure at Juventus.
That is because Conte was given a four-month Serie A ban for failing to report a match-fixing attempt at Siena in 2011, which he sat out at the start of the 2012-13 campaign.
It was originally a 10-month ban, reduced to four on appeal.
Conte faced a civil trial for the same incident in 2016 and was acquitted with the judge calling the accusations of sporting fraud ‘baseless.’