Tottenham boss Conte tells Daniel Levy he's made transfer 'mistakes'

02/04/2022

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

Antonio Conte has labelled Tottenham’s January transfer window ‘very strange’ after seeing a number of recent signings depart.

While they brought in Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski from Juventus, Conte claimed the loan exits of record signing Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso, summer arrival Bryan Gil plus youngster Jack Clarke are evidence of ‘some mistakes’ Spurs have made in recent windows.

And he has warned Daniel Levy that Spurs now need to ‘pay more attention’ to avoid repeating them.

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)

Conte said: ‘It was strange, in January to send four on loan, and sell one player [Dele Alli]. It means maybe in the past, you have to see what you did. And maybe to understand that there were some mistakes in the past.

‘Because usually you have to buy players to reinforce your team. But if you send away players on loan you bought in the last two or three years, it means maybe you did something wrong in the past.

‘For sure to lose four players in January, I repeat is not normal. We shared the decision with the club and the players. But I repeat, it means something wrong happened in the past. Usually you buy players to reinforce your team, you don’t lose players after one, two or three years.

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

‘For this reason, we have to pay more attention in the future when we go in the market about the choice of the players. It becomes of fundamental importance if we want to reinforce the quality of the team. Otherwise, when you go reinforce the quality of your team, you drop the quality of your team.

‘I hope I transferred my thoughts to my club because I repeat, I have my vision. I’m here to try to help my club to improve.

‘In my experiences in the past, I have built good structure, good teams that have lasted over time. Also without me, also without me.

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

‘It means maybe if I tell something and have a vision, I see the situation. Here we need to build, we need to build a good structure and create a good foundation.

‘It will be very important to not make mistakes in the future, because in this moment many teams are higher than us and for this reason, to catch up with them, we have to reduce the mistakes. We have to reduce them, have a vision and follow this line.’

Though Tottenham made two additions during the January window, they also missed out on two other potential signings who opted to join other clubs.

Tottenham missed out on Colombia international Luis Diaz after they were hijacked by Liverpool

Adama Traore also could have joined Tottenham but opted to return to Barcelona on loan

They were hijacked by Premier League rivals Liverpool in the pursuit of Porto winger Luis Diaz.

The 25-year-old opted to join Jurgen Klopp’s side when they came calling, joining the Reds for £50m.

They were also strong contenders to sign Wolves winger Adama Traore.

The Spaniard though instead returned to Barcelona on a loan deal, returning to the club where he started his career.

Tottenham signings since 2019 Champions League final defeat

2019-20

Jack Clarke (£10m from Leeds) – Now on loan at Sunderland

Tanguy Ndombele (£54m from Lyon) – Returned to Lyon on loan

Ryan Sessegnon (£25m from Fulham)

Michel Vorm (Free agent) – Now on Spurs coaching staff

Giovani Lo Celso (Loan which turned into £27m permanent deal from Real Betis) – On loan at Villarreal

Steven Bergwijn (£27m from PSV Eindhoven)

Gedson Fernandes (18 month loan deal) – Recalled by Benfica in Feb 2021 and now at Besiktas

2020-21

Alfie Devine (£500,000 from Wigan)

Pierre-Emile Hojberg (£15m from Southampton)

Joe Hart (Free agent) – Now at Celtic

Matt Doherty (£13.4m from Wolves)

Sergio Reguilon (£25m from Real Madrid)

Joe Rodon (£11m from Swansea)

Gareth Bale and Carlos Vinicius on one-year loan deals

2021-22

Bryan Gill (£21m from Sevilla) – On loan at Valencia

Pape Sarr (undisclosed fee from Metz) – Returned to Metz on loan

Emerson Royal (£25.8m from Barcelona)

Cristian Romero (£42.5m from Atalanta)

Rodrigo Bentancur (£15.8m from Juventus)

Pierluigi Gollini and Dejan Kulusevski on loans until the end of the season

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