Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy is risking a further wrath of fury if recent reports regarding the managerial hotseat are to be believed...

What's the word?

The future of current first-team boss Antonio Conte is certainly dubious, to say the least. Respected Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio recently suggested that the 53-year-old will leave north London in the summer following the expiry of his current contract (via AreaNapoli).

And now, other reports in Italy - this time from Il Messaggero - suggest that another former Chelsea manager in Maurizio Sarri is under consideration to be his replacement.

It's thought that 64-year-old's Europa League-winning success at Stamford Bridge has always left a good impression on teams in England, with the likes of managerless Everton, as well as West Ham United, also keen on him.

Levy's final dagger

The popularity of Levy and the club's owners, the ENIC Group, are diminishing by the season and both have been faced with renewed pressure from supporters after recent protests outside Hotspur Way.

This surging voice of concern rumbled into the Lilywhites' most recent Premier League outing - a 1-0 win over Fulham - where chants against the aforementioned key figures could be heard before and during the encounter, with some picked up by the Sky Sports cameras.

Ever since the departure of Mauricio Pochettino, there has been an air of consistent disappointment. The Argentine really overachieved with the tools at his disposal in guiding the north London underachievers to three top-three finishes, as well as a Champions League final.

A title-winning manager in Jose Mourinho failed, as did the brief Nuno Espirito Santo experiment, whilst Conte's reign is quickly veering towards a toxic conclusion.

The writing was seemingly always on the wall between Conte and Levy, let's be honest. He has been backed in the transfer market but probably not as much as he'd have liked, and especially not to the levels of his successful Chelsea and Inter Milan tenures.

Now, should he leave in the summer, then the Spurs supremo would be back at square one in their hunt to bring that elusive piece of silverware to the glossy 62,850 all-seater Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Sarri isn't going to win over the fanbase whatsoever, not at least because of his links to west London. A supposed arch-rival of the club, Spurs have had four ex-Chelsea managers at the helm - Glenn Hoddle, Andre Villas-Boas, and the aforementioned two.

The former Napoli and Juventus tactician, now in charge of Lazio, may well be adored by current Lilywhites star Dejan Kulusevski and have a surprise admirer in Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola but that shouldn't detract from the culture he creates around the dressing room.

Spurs have been through some rough patches with both Mourinho and Conte, and Sarri would be cut from the same cloth. Speaking to Football Insider in 2021, pundit Noel Whelan suggested: "He’s another personality who would clash with the players. You need to look at the man-management side of things now."

Meanwhile, the veteran has also been dubbed "very stubborn" when it came to his tactics by Mario Melchiot, which again errs on the Conte side of things, and described as "an ex-bank manager" who "manages a club like one" by his ex-player Rob Green.

As such, it's quite easy to see why Sarri would be an unmitigated disaster for Spurs to hire in any post-Conte move and ultimately, it could be one that puts the final dagger into Levy's controversial reign as Tottenham chairman.

AND in other news, Paratici's latest January move for £27m "game-changer" is a touch of genius for Spurs...