The January transfer window is open, and Tottenham Hotspur has yet to make any additions to improve the squad as they’re fighting for a top-four spot in the Premier League.
Manager Antonio Conte has turned the ship around following Spurs’ slow start to the season. However, the Italian tactician needs financial investment into the squad. Despite no moves being made yet, talkSPORT pundit and former Spurs player Jermain Defoe believes the club will back Conte.
“You’d like to think that he’d get the opportunity to get the players he wants just to give Tottenham an opportunity to kick on,” Defoe told talkSPORT. “Everyone knows how much I love the football club, and when Antonio Conte got the job, I was so excited. He is an unbelievable manager with his experience.
“I messaged Lukaku and people like Ashley Young and Victor Moses who have played under Conte, and they said that the players have never, ever trained so hard. But at the same time, it’s enjoyable, and that’s why the players are getting those numbers. I believe that if he gets the opportunity to bring in the players he wants, then, of course, the club will kick on and get into that Champions League spot.”
Conte made it known through the media the gap between what he’s working with at Tottenham and a club like Chelsea, which won the UEFA Champions League last season. The EFL Cup semi-final matchup allowed for the Italian tactician to point and show what he needs to match up against clubs like The Blues.
Furthermore, this week there were reports regarding Conte’s future with Tottenham should they fail to back him financially. The 52-year-old is afraid to leave a job with a club isn’t ready to meet his financial demands.
Would it be a surprise if Defoe was brought in as a cheap backup striker?
The key words from Defoe are “You’d think”. Yes, you would think Conte wouldn’t be left with the carpet remnants of a squad that needed overhauling under Poch, but this is Tottenham and Levy we are talking about.
You’d have thought that a team capable of top 4 under Redknapp might get invested in with better players than Saha and Nelson.
You’d have thought Poch would have been given quality players to win the EPL or Ch Lg. You’d have thought Levy might have sold the naming rights to a stadium that is nearly 3 years old giving the club approximately £40-60m in revenue.
You’d have thought Spurs might have got more than a few beans for Toby, Jan, Eriksen, Dembele, Rose and Dele instead of flogging them into the ground and not noticing the value of when to sell.
You’d have thought Spurs’ recruitment team might know what they were doing and not just roll some dice or throw a dart at a bunch of players after selling its prize assets (Carrick, Modric, Berba, Bale, Walker).
You’d have thought Levy would have kept Jose for the League Cup final instead of sacking him and letting Ryan Mason get some work experience.
You’d have thought Levy would have got Conte in the Summer rather than settling on Nuno.
We could all think of what should happen, but I am past caring. I need to start believing again and having a manager, no matter how talented, with players that are good enough to compete with the best.
Bleak but true
Being a Spurs fan is like being a cuckolded husband.
that’s the strategy no doubt
Banking on the ESL . A league in which there no relegation and a increasing number of fans enter the THS Lending facility to watch the opposition..
I don’t need to wait for the summer, I know the powers that be will never, ever do enough. The defining moment was the three blank windows and the refusal to back Poch.
I don’t need any more evidence.
I’d love to be as optimistic as JD, I think we’ll do something this month to help with a top 4 push, but the big, defining moment will be in the summer. I just can’t see Conte still in charge at the end of next season, or even at the start.