Antonio Conte tells Daniel Levy he’s made transfer ‘mistakes’, resulting in a ‘very strange’ window
Antonio Conte tells Daniel Levy he’s made transfer ‘mistakes’, resulting in a ‘very strange’ window of offloading Spurs’ expensive flop buys, as he demands ‘we must pay more attention’
- Tottenham signed two players in January but missed out on two other targets
- Dele Alli left for Everton while expensive signings left the club on loan
- Antonio Conte said the club needs to cut out mistakes in the transfer market
- The Tottenham boss described the January transfer window as ‘very strange’
- He did insist though that the Tottenham squad is more complete after January
Tottenham manager Antonio Conte has sent a message to Daniel Levy stating the club made mistakes in the transfer market which resulted in a ‘very strange January window.
Spurs made two additions from Juventus in the form of Dejan Kulusevski on loan and Rodrigo Bentancur but missed out on Luis Diaz and Adama Traore who went to Liverpool and Barcelona respectively.
However, it was a month that also saw five players leave the club with Dele Alli joining Everton, while record signing Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso, summer addition Bryan Gil and Jack Clarke all left the club on loan.
Antonio Conte has urged Tottenham to pay more attention in the transfer market after a ‘very strange’ January transfer window
A number of expensive buys have not worked out and been loaned away from the club in January (chairman Daniel Levy pictured)
Ahead of Tottenham’s fourth-round FA Cup clash with Brighton, Conte addressed the January transfer window stating: ‘For the players who went out on loan it was right.
‘For sure it was very strange to send out on loan four players and one transfer in January, it showed something went wrong in the past.
‘Maybe there were some mistakes in the past. You have to buy players to reinforce your team but if you send away players that you bought in the last two or three years it means you did something wrong in the past.’
The club’s £54m record signing Tanguy Ndombele returned to Lyon on loan in January
Dele Alli was the only permanent sale in January leaving the club for Everton after six-and-a-half seasons
He added: ‘We have to pay more attention in the future when we go into the market.’
Ndombele returned to Lyon on loan just two and a half years after becoming Tottenham’s most expensive ever signing at £54m.
Lo Celso’s loan move from Real Betis turned permanent in January 2020 for £27m and he has returned to Spain with Villarreal.
Tottenham also forked out £21m for Gil just last summer in a swap-plus-cash deal which saw Erik Lamela join Sevilla and now he has returned to LaLiga with Valencia.
All three players have failed to live up to their transfer value, while it was also disappointing for Spurs that they failed to sign Diaz or Traore.
Giovani Lo Celso joined the club for £27m but has been loaned out to LaLiga side Villarreal
Bryan Gil joined the club last summer from Sevilla but is now on loan at Valencia
Levy was said to be frustrated after Liverpool hijacked Tottenham’s pursuit of Diaz, landing the winger from Porto for £50m.
After a long pursuit of Traore, the Wolves winger eventually decided to return to Barcelona on loan.
Despite their mistakes in the window, Conte believes the squad is more complete than it was.
He said: ‘Now it’s more complete and we tried to fill the right roles with a central midfielder, and Kulusevski.
‘He can play as a number 10 or as a wing-back. We need to not make big mistakes in the transfer market.’
Conte said that both Kulusevski and Bentancur are fit to make their debuts against Brighton on Saturday.
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