Jose Mourinho aims dig at Daniel Levy over Tottenham's Antonio Conte decision

Jose Mourinho has suggested Tottenham have made a mistake in replacing Nuno Espirito Santo with Antonio Conte.

Nuno was relieved of his duties on Monday, with the sorry 3-0 defeat to Manchester United the final straw for chairman Daniel Levy.

That meant the former Wolves boss had just 10 Premier League games in charge, after he was named as the Special One's successor ahead of the new season.

Mourinho was Nuno's coach at FC Porto and was a regular supporter of his compatriot throughout his time at Molineux.

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Antonio Conte was named as Tottenham's new boss following the sacking of Nuno Espirito Santo ( Image:

Getty)

Conte was swiftly named as his replacement and while Mourinho accepts the Italian is a good appointment, he has claimed his old friend deserved more time.

"I think Conte is a good coach, but Nuno is a very good coach," Mourinho said via FC Inter News. "He did a fantastic job at Wolverhampton for 4- 5 years, not a year or a few months.

"This is why I say that Tottenham have a very good coach now but they also had one with Nuno."

The Roma boss lasted less than 18 months during his own stint in north London and added that managers need time and patience to truly get their ideas across.

"Sometimes you have to be patient to achieve results, you have to be ready to suffer, to sacrifice yourself for the group. This is our mentality and we have to improve in this way," Mourinho explained.

"When I spoke about patience, to improve you need time. To achieve something we need to go day-by-day, work hard. What we can do is this."

Jose Mourinho has suggested Nuno Espirito Santo deserved more time at Tottenham

On Wednesday, Tottenham's director of football Fabio Paratici addressed the press and said Conte's arrival shows that the club are determined to achieve success.

"We are here to work, to achieve our ambitions like a club, as a club, not as personal people.

"We search to do the best for this club every day to build something good, not just for this season but for the long-term project," Paratici explained. "This is the answer. It's not just about Harry [Kane], but about everybody else."

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Nuno appeared a long way down the list of Spurs' preferred targets in the summer, with Conte close to taking on the role in the summer.

On the process to land the former Chelsea boss this time around, he continued: "Now is the right time because we spoke once with Antonio this summer but it was not the right time because he was involved emotionally with Inter as it was a long the last two seasons so was not ready.

"I know Antonio very well. When he says no, it is no. When he says yes, it is yes. That's it."