Tottenham Hotspur have begun the process of finding their next manager, with Antonio Conte unlikely to continue past the current campaign...

What's the latest on Antonio Conte's future?

According to The Athletic, Spurs have drawn up a shortlist of potential successors to replace the Italian, whose exit from the club now seems inevitable after a string of poor results and tension behind the scenes.

His contract is set to expire on June 30th and it's thought that talks over an extension are all but dead, so the 53-year-old has a maximum of 12 matches left in the dugout in north London.

Lilywhites sporting director Fabio Paratici will be tasked with finding a suitable replacement and he will want to avoid the previous fiasco that saw Nuno Espirito Santo appointed as Jose Mourinho's successor before lasting only 17 matches in charge.

Who will replace Conte at Spurs?

Top of his shortlist is thought to be former Barcelona and Spain boss Luis Enrique, who The Athletic claim has been highly regarded by the Italian supremo for many, many years.

Other names that will likely be considered are Oliver Glasner of Eintracht Frankfurt, Sporting CP's young leader Ruben Amorim and Luciano Spalletti of Serie A frontrunners Napoli.

It's also thought that a return for Mauricio Pochettino, whilst Paratici remains at the helm, is rather doubtful, so the Lilywhites faithful may want to quickly move on from that thought in the coming months.

Based on that immediate shortlist, Enrique does seem like the very best option to help the club finally move on from Pochettino and this ongoing Conte nightmare, though the 52-year-old would inherit a far worse standard of squad than what he was largely handed by Pep Guardiola - via Tito Vilanova and Gerardo Martino - at the Nou Camp.

That said, his work with Spain - a national side in transition - should also be applauded and that'll only help his cause in N17.

Across his three-year stint at the Nou Camp, the Spaniard - who also featured for both the Catalan giants and their arch-rivals Real Madrid as a player - led the side to a multitude of trophies, including three LaLiga titles and one Champions League.

Enrique led the Blaugrana in a total of 181 outings, where he won 76.2% of those matches with a points-per-game ratio of 2.41 and a goals-per-game ratio of 2.87, via Transfermarkt.

That suggests that he could be a far more progressive and attacking option to the defensively-minded Conte, who opted for Davinson Sanchez over Arnaut Danjuma or Lucas Moura with his side needing a win over AC Milan to progress past the last-16 of the Champions League.

According to Thiago Alcantara, Enrique is a cross between two of the Premier League's most successful managers in recent times - speaking to The Guardian, he said:

"I think there’s a bit of everything and everyone in every coach. It’s easy to adapt to Luis’s football because he has the analytical positioning of Pep, the aggressiveness of Klopp, lots of the things I saw at Bayern.

"He’s very good at explaining what he wants: he has very clear ideas, which we’ve been working on for three years, and transmits those very directly."

It's also perhaps why Lionel Messi regards him as one of his two favourite managers to have played for, describing both Enrique and Guardiola as "the two best" during an interview back in December 2020.

Such endorsements should provide those around Hotspur Way with plenty of encouragement that the Gijon-born tactician is the right man to progress struggling Spurs forward.

If he's among the best for Messi, then he should be for Harry Kane and co too, so it's time to forget about Pochettino with Enrique among the early frontrunners for the soon-to-be vacant role in north London.

AND in other news, Conte could save Spurs millions by unleashing 18 y/o dynamo who’s a “natural finisher”...