MY ACCOUNT
Tottenham’s stand-in boss Cristian Stellini said Antonio Conte feels he underestimated the seriousness of his gallbladder surgery.
Conte had the organ removed at the start of February after experiencing severe abdominal pain and took a short break from Spurs to begin his recovery.
The Italian returned to duties on the training pitch last week before the 4-1 defeat to Leicester City in the Premier League and then oversaw a Champions League defeat to Milan at San Siro.
However, Conte has since had his recovery progress checked out, and it was decided he will need more time away from frontline work.
Stellini will take charge for Sunday’s home clash with West Ham, and asked if Conte might need an extended break, he told reporters: “Health is more important than football and this is the reason why the club, Antonio and the doctors decide to take this responsibility and leave Antonio in Italy after the last game.
“We don’t know the time. He needs to rest. The doctor thinks about the timing and they have an idea but it is really a feeling from Antonio.
“[The doctor] explained very well that surgery was not an easy surgery. It was an emergency surgery. The inflammation was big and maybe they underestimated this situation. He needs time to be 100 per cent and Antonio not at 100 per cent is not Antonio.
“That creates stress and overstress and this is dangerous after a surgery like that.
“We have a call every day, many times in a day, probably three times per day, but he wants to come back.”
Quizzed on the level of authority he has while in temporary charge, Stellini replied: “I have the same authority before he came back but since the moment he came back, Antonio’s feeling was that maybe he underestimated the procedure after the surgery.
“Coming close to the [Leicester] game, the stress, the tension he had before the game created some problems. When they checked with the doctor, with the club, they spoke for a long time about this and the decision was this.
“He needs to take it easy again. He will come back soon.”
On the pitch, Stellini – who oversaw a 1-0 win over Manchester City earlier this month – is looking for a reaction after the successive defeats.
“I want to see the reaction from the start,” he said. “The first minute will be very important for us because we have to show the desire to play the best game we can.”
Spurs were dealt another blow this week, with midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur ruled out for the rest of the season due to an ACL injury.
