Antonio Conte will be advised to stay away from Tottenham until he is 100 per cent fit and able to be himself, according to his assistant manager Cristian Stellini.
Conte stayed in Italy after Tuesday’s defeat at Milan in the Champions League, after a consultation with the surgeon who performed the operation to remove his gallbladder, at the start of February.
‘Health is more important than football,’ said Stellini. ‘This is why the club, Antonio and doctors decides to take this responsibility and leave Antonio in Italy. The time he is there will really come down to a feeling from Antonio.
‘As he explained, the surgery was not easy, it was emergency surgery and the inflammation was big, and maybe they underestimated the situation. He needs time to be 100 per cent and when Antonio is not 100 per cent he is not Antonio and this creates stress.
‘He needs to take it easy again. Antonio’s feeling is that he underestimated the procedure. When he was close to the game, the stress and tension he lives normally creates problems. When he checked with the doctor and the club, the decision was this.’
Conte missed the win against Manchester City, which was only four days after his operation, and was back on the touchline for defeats against Leicester and Milan, albeit still in pain and discomfort.
He met his surgeon in Italy on Wednesday and was advised to step away from work once again.
Stellini, who has taken charge of training and will be in charge against West Ham on Sunday, said: ‘I have same authority I had before he came back.
‘We have a call every day, many times, probably three times per day and every time he wants to come back. He repeats every day I want to come back, how was the training, he wants to organise something.’
Spurs will have Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg back after suspension in the Champions League but are still without Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur and Ryan Sessegnon, all injured.