Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte has indicated that new signing Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski are far from the finished product.
When Conte took the Tottenham job, many expected that he had been promised huge money for the January transfer window.
After all, Conte won the Serie A title at Inter Milan last season and always wants to challenge for top silverware.
The squad Conte inherited wasn’t ready for that, so there was an assumption that Tottenham would be active in January.
It proved to be a frustrating month for Tottenham, who actually let more players leave the club than they brought in.
Bryan Gil, Giovani Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele have all left Tottenham on loan, whilst Dele Alli has joined Everton on a permanent basis.
Tottenham only managed two signings, with Bentancur joining permanently and Kulusevski on loan with a permanent option.
Conte has now been speaking about both players whilst talking to Sky Italia ahead of this weekend’s game against Manchester City.
Conte has noted that, even just from a pure numerical standpoint, Tottenham have weakened by losing four players and signing just two.
Conte did call Bentancur and Kulusevski ‘ideal’ signings for Tottenham because the club wants to sign young players with potential.
That may not be what Conte wants though, as he usually likes signing ready-made players who are ready to make an instant impact – something he doesn’t think applies to Bentancur and Kulusevski.
That’s where the verdict seems a little mixed; ideal for the club but maybe not absolutely perfect for Conte.
“What happened in January is not easy,” said Conte. “In January, four players left. Four important players for Tottenham, two have arrived. So even numerically instead of strengthening yourself you may have, on paper, weakened.”
“Bentancur and Kulusevski are the ideal prospect for Tottenham. Because Tottenham are looking for young players, players to grow, to develop, not ready players. That is the matter,” he added.
You can understand the stance with Kulusevski. The Swede is just 21 and hasn’t even played 100 league games in his career.
Kulusevski is inexperienced and may take some time to hit top form for Tottenham.
With Bentancur though, Conte’s comments may not quite apply.
Bentancur is 24, played more than 200 times for Juventus as well as 66 times for Boca Juniors and has 47 caps for Uruguay.
As far as 24-year-olds go, Bentancur is actually pretty experienced and hardly a kid learning his trade.
Conte will need to work hard to get the best out of the pair of them, seemingly managing expectations over them.
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