Simon Jordan has admitted he’s staggered that Antonio Conte is interested in the Tottenham job when Manchester United may soon be looking for a new manager.
Spurs have sacked Nuno Espirito Santo and are moving swiftly to hire his replacement.
The club’s board are confident of hiring Conte, who was also a target over the summer when Nuno got the job.
The Italian did not want it on that occasion, but now is believed to be keen on taking over the north London outfit.
He has recently been linked with the Manchester United job with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer under great pressure.
Ironically, a 3-0 win over Spurs on Saturday relieved the pressure for the time being on Solskjaer, while proving to be the final nail in the coffin for Nuno.
Former Crystal Palace owner Jordan was baffled that Conte would not hold out for the gig at Old Trafford.
“Conte would rather choose Tottenham Hotspur over the potential, inevitable opening at Man United sooner rather than later. I’m staggered,” he said on White and Jordan.
“Conte didn’t want to stay at [Inter] Milan because he wasn’t given assurances about how much money they would spend.
“Conte will drive them insane and produce the same outcome, unless (Fabio) Paratici has a different relationship with Daniel (Levy) than anyone else has had before.
“Tottenham are not Manchester United and don’t have the livery or finances behind them unless there’s a massive sea change.
“You are building a situation where you are looking at the here and now. The now is Tottenham fans are offside, they are unhappy.
“They built a new stadium, the gleam is coming off Tottenham, so it looks like a here and now situation with Paratici bringing someone in who is either going to win you something or cause absolute aggravation behind the scenes. Or win you nothing and cause aggravation behind the scenes.
“Which do you want? You are going to get a bit of both I suspect.”
Tottenham got to a Champions League final under Mauricio Pochettino in 2019 and were regularly finishing in the top four under the Argentine.
He was axed two years ago and it has been a struggle for the club’s fans since.
Two managers later and they seem to be going backwards and are far from contesting league titles.
Jordan argues that Spurs do not have the financial might to compete with the top teams in the Premier League.
On Conte, he continued: “You are winning leagues and falling out with clubs every time you win a league because you can’t have what you want next.
“How do you create this at Tottenham Hotspur? Tottenham aren’t winning leagues and don’t spend any money of comparative significance compared to other sides.
“We factor in what Tottenham want, but then you take out the equation what Man City are going to do, what Liverpool are going to do, what Manchester United are going to do.
“If Tottenham are going to go toe-to-toe with those guys, then bang… Conte is a football project.
“Do you think Tottenham are going to go toe-to-toe with £250million a season with Chelsea, Man City and Manchester United.”
Jordan added: “If they are going to give him a hell of a lot of money, then I’ve been arguing for Conte to go to Manchester United, I cannot now make that argument for Tottenham.
“I’m looking at the DNA of Tottenham and saying, Daniel Levy, irrespective of devolving authority to Paratici, which he needs to do, will still have a control over the finances.
“He will say to Paratici you can have autonomy over £50million, £60million, £70million, £80million, but that isn’t going to do you what Man City and Chelsea are doing.”