Tottenham coach Antonio Conte has slammed his Bayern Munich counterpart Julian Nagelsmann for comments made about star striker Harry Kane.
The German coach was asked about his side’s move for Kane and he refused to rule out a move for the striker. This was also after Bayern’s chief executive, Oliver Kahn, had revealed earlier this week that it would be a “dream” to sign Kane.
The Bundesliga champions are searching for a replacement for Robert Lewandowski who joined Barcelona in a £42.5m deal this month.
But Nagelsmann’s comments have infuriated Conte, who has criticised the Bavarians for openly talking about his player.
Asked about Bayern’s pursuit of Kane, following Tottenham’s 2-1 pre-season win at Rangers, coach Conte told Sky Sports:
“Honestly, I didn’t hear this. For sure, I’m a coach who doesn’t talk about players from other teams.
“I don’t know why [this happened]. The situation at Tottenham is very clear. The plan is very clear with the club. Harry is a part of the project. He is a very important part of the project and yeah, only rumours.
“At the same time, I don’t like to speak about players from another club. If I want to do something, I go to speak to the club, not through the media.
“I think maybe it’s a bit disrespectful for the other club. This is my way. This is my way to face the situation with other players.”
Although Kane pushed for a Spurs exit last summer, he is reportedly willing to stay and see out his contract, especially with Conte at the helm.
Meanwhile, Conte has given his perspective about the new season. When asked what he thought about the coming season and the former season, the former Inter Milan boss said his squad has improved.
“In comparing last season, I think numerically we improved the squad,” Conte said.
“And I think that we worked with the club to improve the quality as well as that numerical aspect.
“When you have to play four competitions, like Premier League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup and especially Champions League, you need to have an important squad and honestly last season I think that we reached a big achievement with 12, 13 players. I think we tried to do our best, for sure, and this is the start.
“You can build in one year a great building, but I think last season we put in a good foundation and now, this summer, we tried to build the first and second floor but we know that we need a bit of time. At the same time, we have ambition and the players are working very hard because they believe in what we are doing. They feel that we are building something important with the club.
