Tottenham Hotspur correspondent Alasdair Gold has claimed the January transfer window is proof that Antonio Conte does hold a lot of power at the club.
Going into the window, it was believed the Italian manager had a number of areas of the team which he wanted to be addressed come the 11pm deadline on Monday.
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However, the Lilywhites only saw two new faces arrive through the doors at Hotspur Way, with Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur joining from Juventus.
The major changes Spurs saw were in the outgoings, with a large number of their midfielders headed out the door on Monday’s Deadline Day.
And Gold believes the big changes seen to the squad – even purely through the departures of some of their most expensive purchases – demonstrates the power Conte holds over Daniel Levy.
“It says plenty about Conte’s power at Tottenham that Levy has agreed to jettison the club’s two most expensive players ever – both requested by Mauricio Pochettino and signed for more than £110m between them with add-ons just over two years ago – and stuck them out on loan,” said Gold on Football.london.
TIF Thoughts on Alasdair Gold’s comments about Antonio Conte’s January transfer business at Spurs…
Two of the big-name departures were Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso on initial loan deals, with the duo having cost the club in the region of a combined £110m in transfer fees.
With those two individuals departing, Gold feels that only a powerful manager such as Conte could demand their departures given what it cost the club to bring them to north London.
And with this in mind, it could bode well for the Lilywhites going into the summer window, when Spurs may be able to trade more freely with more than one month to do business.
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