Antonio Conte has lamented Tottenham's January transfer activity, stating that the club 'weakened' their squad by allowing four players to leave.
Spurs shipped out Dele Alli, Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso and Bryan Gil during the winter window, and brought in just two players in Juventus duo Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur.
Speaking to Sky Italia, the former Inter and Juventus manager - who some have tipped to walk out if things do not improve in north London - voiced his displeasure at the club's recent transfer activity.
"What happened in January is not easy," Conte began.
"Four players left in January. Four important players for Tottenham, two have arrived. So even numerically instead of reinforcing yourself in quotes you may have, on paper, weakened. Then precise choices were made for many reasons.
"But I certainly never expected that in January four players who I still considered important would change their shirts for a thousand reasons. This shows the difficulty. Tottenham in the last session of the summer transfer market and in January changed eight players."
Conte also seemed to critique Spurs' philosophy of signing 'not ready players' during the interview, adding that plenty of patience will be required.
"It is inevitable that in January it is very difficult to get two players like Bentancur and Kulusevski to sign who, I repeat, are the ideal prospects for Tottenham," he continued. "Because Tottenham is looking for young players, players to be developed, not ready players. This is the speech.
"The vision, the philosophy of the club is this. It is inevitable that if you want to grow faster and if you want to be competitive more quickly you need players with a lot of experience because they also lead to an increase in experience in your team.
"But then again, the vision of the club I realised is this and will continue to be this. For this reason it will take a lot of patience, and I continue to explain it to the whole environment and to the fans."
This article was originally published on 90min as Antonio Conte surprised Tottenham 'weakened' their squad in January transfer window.
Source: www.90min.com