Antonio Conte acknowledges he will have to leave Tottenham if he can no longer accept the club's position as unlikely Premier League and Champions League contenders.

Spurs approach Wednesday's Premier League trip to Crystal Palace five points adrift of fourth-placed Manchester United after suffering a dismal 2-0 defeat against Aston Villa on New Year's Day.

Tottenham have now won just one of their past four Premier League games either side of the World Cup break, and their poor run has added fuel to speculation regarding Conte's future.

The former Chelsea, Juventus and Inter boss has been linked with an exit on several occasions since taking the reins in November 2021.

While Conte is content at Tottenham for now, he says his commitment to the club can only last while he remains comfortable with their inability to compete for major honours.   

"My task is to help the club, to create a base, and then to try to improve," Conte said on Tuesday.

"If you say to me, 'the challenge for you is to win the Premier League, to win the Champions League'… This is not the task in this moment.

"I found the club in a difficult position for many reasons. Now my task – I understand it very well – is to help the club go in the right direction and to create a foundation.

"Then, if I am satisfied to continue to do this work and to one day see the result, I will continue to stay. If I'm not convinced 100 per cent, then I can leave my work.

"This is my big challenge here. If I want to stay here, then I have to accept this. Otherwise, if I don't want to accept this, then I have to go."

Spurs supporters vented their frustration towards chairman Daniel Levy during Sunday's loss to Villa, but Conte outlined the need for unity.

Asked about audible chants calling for Levy to leave at Tottenham's last game, Conte said: "Honestly, I did not hear this. 

"All I can say is it is important in this moment to have togetherness between fans, players and the club. We must stick together.

"I understand fans want to win trophies and be competitive, but to go to this step you need to create a base. I can't tell you anything different."

Tottenham have stated they can further invest both on and off the pitch after agreeing a capital injection of up to £150million from the club's majority shareholder ENIC Sports Inc (ENIC).

This equity increase has been enabled by "the issue of convertible A Shares and accompanying warrants", according to the Premier League club.

Spurs' statement explained the investment "represents permanent capital, with no ongoing interest cost to the club, and which may be drawn in tranches until the end of the year".

The statement added that Spurs' "independent directors have benefited from [their] majority shareholder's ability to invest directly, swiftly and without the extensive due diligence and documentation involved in third party funding."

ENIC now has the ability to increase its ownership from 85.6 per cent to 87.5 per cent. 

The news comes after reports emerged that Antonio Conte, who guided Spurs to Champions League qualification, had been promised up to six new signings in the close season.

"The delivery of a world-class home was always a key building block in driving diversified revenues to enable us to invest in the teams and support our ambitions to be consistently competing at the highest levels of European football," said Spurs chairman Daniel Levy.

"Additional capital from ENIC will now enable further investment in the club at an important time."

Kieran Trippier has confirmed he attracted "strong interest" from Manchester United last year before returning to the Premier League with Newcastle United.

Trippier swapped a LaLiga title defence with Atletico Madrid for a relegation battle with Newcastle this month, with the England full-back joining Eddie Howe's side for a reported fee of £12million.

The 31-year-old spent two-and-a-half seasons at Atleti after leaving Tottenham in 2019, helping Diego Simeone's side clinch a LaLiga title last year.

There were reports since early in 2021 that Trippier wished to return to England, and United were heavily linked.

Trippier has now confirmed that United and Atleti held discussions before the 2021-22 season, after England's run to the final of Euro 2020, but the potential move broke down over the Spanish club's demand that his release clause, reported at around £50m (€60m), was met.

"After the Euros, there was really strong interest," Trippier told Newcastle great Alan Shearer in an interview with The Athletic.

"I've got to be careful what I say because I don't want to get into trouble, but yeah, there was interest. We had conversations, but Atletico Madrid just wanted my release clause and it was a lot of money for a 30-year-old, so I understand why Man United didn't do that.

"There were other clubs interested too. Anyway, it's gone now, so it doesn't bother me."

Trippier hopes Simeone, who has established himself as one of world football's leading coaches during his decade-long stint at Atleti, follows him from LaLiga to the Premier League.

"I'd love to see him working in England. I know he was learning English about a year ago, and his partner speaks English," Trippier said.

"The thing about Simeone is that because he's so passionate when he's talking in the dressing room, I think it would get to him if he wasn't completely fluent. But I would love to see him in the Premier League. I think everyone would."

Simeone's pragmatic approach has sometimes come in for criticism, but there can be no doubting its success.

"It's a bit unfair, because Simeone has been so successful. He's won eight trophies," Trippier added, before referring to a comment Jurgen Klopp made about Atleti not playing "proper football" after Liverpool's defeat to Los Colchoneros in the 2019-20 Champions League knockout stage.

"I understand where Klopp is coming from, but if you're playing at Anfield you can't go toe-to-toe with [Liverpool] because you'll get punished.

"Everybody has their own system or set-up and Simeone's is different. It's worked for him."

Trippier's decision to leave Tottenham came after Mauricio Pochettino's side had reached the 2019 Champions League final, losing to Liverpool - ironically, at Atleti's Wanda Metropolitano stadium.

The former Burnley defender enjoyed a fine 2018 World Cup, but felt his form dropped off slightly afterwards. However, he also hit out at Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, who he claims was engineering a sale while the season was ongoing.

"f you look back to the last few months of my Tottenham career, I admit that I wasn't at the levels that I was at the World Cup and there's no excuse," he said.

"After the Champions League final, it felt like the right time to move on.

"What annoyed me, I know 100 per cent for a fact – and this is what I was most angry about – that two months before the end of the season, Daniel was offering me to other clubs.

"I knew for certain that was happening, so I knew my time there must be up. I was playing for my team-mates and the supporters, but I also knew I wasn't wanted."