Tottenham boss Antonio Conte has four clubs hoping to take advantage of his imminent Spurs exit, according to reports.

Conte managed to guide Tottenham to Champions League qualification last season and sit fourth in the Premier League this season.

However, Newcastle United are now only two points behind Spurs with two games in hand, while Liverpool are also starting to breathe down their necks.

Tottenham fans have been unhappy with Conte’s style of play and have been particuarly annoyed by the club’s failure to challenge for any silverware again this season.

They were knocked out of the FA Cup by Championship side Sheffield United and dumped out the Champions League by AC Milan.

And Conte launched a rant at his “selfish” players and the Tottenham board on Saturday after they managed to throw away a 3-1 lead to draw 3-3 against Southampton.

There have been rumours since that Conte is ‘expected to agree his departure this week’ with Tottenham having no intention of activating their one-year option in the Italian’s contract.

And now Corriere dello Sport (via Sport Witness) claims that Conte is ‘almost free’ from his Spurs nightmare with the Italian newspaper insisting ‘at least four big names are thinking about how to bring him back to Italy’.

Conte ‘wants to go home’ with Tottenham currently ‘reflecting on the common good and also on the severance pay’ before announcing his departure.

The report adds that Conte’s ‘desire to return’ to Juventus ‘has never been a mystery’ and that a move back to the Serie A giants would allow ‘Conte became Conte in all his facets’.

Juventus have been struggling this term under Massimiliano Allegri with the Old Lady currently seventh in Serie A and a massive 30 points adrift of leaders Napoli.

Micah Richards has defended Conte following his rant at the weekend and agrees that the “culture” at Tottenham needs to “change”.

“Spurs were crying out for a top manager, but if you get Conte you know what he comes with,” Richards told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“If he gets you a trophy, you can live with that, but unfortunately for Conte, he’s finding it difficult to get over the line [At Tottenham].

“At the end of the day you’re a human being, maybe he is at the end of his tether. If it feels like he’s giving everything and not getting that back, that’s where the emotion comes from.”

Richards added: “Spurs have got used to just doing OK, they got to a Champions League final they’ve got a new stadium, they’ve done well.

“Conte’s passionate, he’s a winner. I understand his frustration of being a great manager and not being able to deliver in what he wants to do at Spurs. You can get a winning manager in, buy you need the culture to change as well.”

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