Antonio Conte has explained his thoughts on Tottenham’s recent incomings and it may raise some questions for Fabio Paratici with his targets in the next transfer window. In his most recent interview, Conte gave his honest verdict on the recent transfers.
Antonio Conte said: “Four players left in January. Four important players for Tottenham, two have arrived. So even numerically instead of reinforcing yourself you may have, on paper, weakened. Bentancur and Kulusevski are ideal prospects for Tottenham because the club is after young players who can improve and develop, rather than players who are the finished article. That’s the story here. That’s the link. That’s the club’s vision and philosophy. It’s inevitable that if you want to improve faster and want to be competitive faster, you need more experienced players because they boost the experience levels among the team.”
Conte quite clearly states that the former Juventus duo who made the move to N17 in January are very much perfect for the “club’s vision”, suggesting they are potentially not perfect for his ideas. Conte gave his verdict on Gil before his departure.
Antonio Conte said: “You know that I like to tell the truth and for sure we’re talking about a really good player in Gil, because he has good quality and he understands football quickly. You can be good with quality. You can be a creative player, but at the same time you have to be strong physically. You have to run a lot, to be resilient.”
Therefore it would seem that the youngster needs some more experience and a chance to continue his development before breaking into the regular Tottenham team. This also further reiterates Conte’s point about experience of players and perhaps raises some questions over who Paratici should target in the summer. Hugo Lloris also mentions the value of experience, when he spoke about his time under Mauricio Pochettino, in a recent interview.
Hugo Lloris said: “We had some great times at Spurs especially during the Mauricio Pochettino era when we were close, very close [to winning a trophy]. When we had the team ready for competing for a trophy and we were at the perfect maturity, playing with each other for many, many years and we knew each other well, there was always a new challenge.”
This time playing with each other is not something the whole current Spurs squad have and it is also not something you can buy with new arrivals. However if the club want to back Conte in the way that they should, to help Tottenham find success, then Paratici may need to rethink the players he targets in the next transfer window.