Antonio Conte vents his frustration with Tottenham Hotspur for ‘weakening the squad’ in the January transfer window and not bringing in experienced players. ‘I have realised now this is the vision of the club.’
The former Inter coach spoke to Sky Sport Italia and the full interview will be aired on Thursday evening.
They did release a snippet of the conversation, in which Conte seemed to be thoroughly unhappy with the transfer activity in January, when Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur were signed from Juventus for a total €70m.
He was asked if there were similarities between this Tottenham side and Conte’s first season at Inter.
“It’s always difficult to make comparisons, but if I had to find something similar, it would be the lack of confidence that is inevitable when you start work at a club that hasn’t won in a long time,” he said.
“I saw some situations from the outside that could be developed, but when you get into it, you realise that something…
“What happened in January was not easy. We lost four players in January. Four important players for Tottenham, and we brought in only two.
“So even just in terms of numbers, rather than reinforce the squad, we on paper weakened it. Bentancur and Kulusevski are ideal prospects for Tottenham, because Tottenham are seeking young players they can develop and grow, not players who are ready. That is the issue.”
Conte repeatedly asked Inter, and before that Juventus, to bring in players who were ready to win and had experience of victory.
Can the Italian coach therefore bridge the gap between Spurs and the other Premier League teams without players who are fully-formed?
“That is the issue,” he replied. “This is the vision and the philosophy of the club. It is inevitable that if you want to grow quicker and if you want to be competitive more rapidly, you need players with a lot of experience, because they also raise the experience level of the overall team.
“But I repeat, I have realised now that this is the vision of the club.”
Tottenham, Conte: “A gennaio via in quattro, due arrivi. Sulla carta ci siamo indeboliti”
L’intervista completa andrà in onda giovedì su Sky Sport 24 alle 12, 17 e 21#SkySport #Conte #AntonioConte https://t.co/cdCXkOUqXZ— skysport (@SkySport) February 16, 2022
Back the manager not the Enic way.
Does this site sponsor Tottenham?
Why are my criticism of football italia reporters being deleted
Come on, Conman. I waited days and days for you to come for Vidal but you never showed.
kinda sounds like conte’s got half a foot out the door come june…
If conte was that good then he should be able to use what he has got not moan about the club not being good enough and way behind other clubs, maybe he is not very good.
He was ill advised before taking the job now he’ll realise what a mess of club his in. Regardless his a fantastic manager. But he couldn’t have picked a worse project…the end is nigh
Grazie Paratici! Juve’s double agent.
@Antonio, the reason Conte took this job is because he has become an absolute jerk for his former clubs by joining their rivals. It’s not a secret that he holds a grudge against Agnelli and Abramovich. That’s why he joined Inter 2 years ago and now he is with Tottenham (the rival of Chelsea in London Derby).
This is what happens when your director of football’s capo is Agnelli.
There goes yet another manager.
So far we have gotten rid of our best manager in decades with poch. We hire the most successful active manager in Europe and win nothing. We hire some loser and win nothing. We hire one of the top 3 managers in Europe currently at the top of his game, and now we are about to lose him. All because of Enid
“ TOTTENHAM WEAKENED SQUAD, I REALISE NOW THIS IS THE CLUB’S VISION’.”
In the interview itself, these two spliced comments were in no way related.
I hate what the internet has done to journalism: opened the door for half-rate wannabes and click bait merchants who can doctor the truth to write a headline but can barely string a sentence correctly thereafter.