Antonio Conte is adamant Tottenham Hotspur will have to sign new players in the January transfer window to improve the quality he has available, via quotes by football.london.
The Italian says he knew after his first week in charge that the north London club will need mid-season deals. Spurs appointed Conte to replace Nuno Espirito Santo on November 2, a day after firing the Portuguese they only hired in the summer to replace Jose Mourinho.
Tottenham backed Nuno in his sole window at the helm with four players brought in, plus Pape Sarr. But only Emerson Royal has held a key role throughout his time in the capital.
Cristian Romero also occupied a regular role, but Conte was only able to field the Argentine once. The defender then sustained a serious hamstring injury while on international duty.
Meanwhile, only Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son, Lucas Moura and Eric Dier have featured in all 10 of Conte’s games in charge. He has used a total of 23 players across all competitions.
Giovani Lo Celso has played the least minutes of those to feature under Conte with just 22 so far. Joe Rodon has also only played 54-minutes, Bryan Gil 82 and Steven Bergwijn 100.
Conte issues adamant verdict on January transfers at Tottenham
Conte is now adamant Tottenham have to make signings in the January transfer window to improve the quality available. A stance he realised within his first week in charge of Spurs.
“For sure,” Conte said. “After only two-weeks, I said we need to improve the quality of the squad and for sure, we need to improve the quality of this squad.
“I was sure after seven-days, 10-days, two-weeks about this. Then I made evaluations to understand which players I could count on and which players I can’t.
“For sure, the squad needs to improve [in] quality, but in an important way. Before we think about a place in the UEFA or Conference League because in this league the level is very high. Now, we’re in the middle and we have to think to build something important.
“For this reason, I ask for patience and time because now the gap is very large and we need to work a lot, and also to try to build. And also improve the quality of the squad.”
Tottenham will start the New Year outside of the Premier League top-four with 30 points in 17 games. But they have played at least two less than all five sides ahead in the standings.
Spurs winning their game two games in hand over Arsenal will catapult Conte’s side above their fourth-placed north London rivals. They are currently separated by just five-points.
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