‘It’s better to be honest’ – Conte on Spurs spending in January transfers

Antonio Conte has said that he does not know whether Tottenham will make any moves during the January transfer window.

Spurs were extremely busy during the summer, bringing seven players in through the door to bulk up the squad. However, despite that, the North Londoners have still struggled to cope with injuries to key players this season.

The Evening Standard reported last week that while Conte is happy with the size of the Spurs squad, he still wants to add quality by upgrading in certain positions during the January transfer window.

The report explained that the Spurs are ready to let Bryan Gil, Japhet Tanganga and Pape Matar Sarr leave on loan, with the Tottenham head coach thought to have asked for direct readymade replacements for all three players.

However, Conte has now insisted that he is not sure how much business Spurs will do when the transfer window reopens mid-season.

The Italian told Football.London: “Honestly I don’t know this [what the club will do in January]. For sure, the life will always be more difficult in the future. For sure, Tottenham has to have the challenge with a team like Newcastle, also Arsenal.

“Arsenal in the last three or four years, every season they invest money and now we are talking about a really, really good team with a really good coach, but in England, it will be really, really difficult in the future and I think in every situation the most important thing is, to be honest.

“To be honest with the fans, to be honest with the ambition, not to tell lies or to promise, and this is the right way for every club because to tell good lies is not good. It’s better to be honest, to tell the truth, also if it’s a bad truth but to be honest, because honesty will pay always, always.”

Ahead of his side’s showdown against Liverpool on Sunday, Conte admitted that Liverpool deserve plenty of praise for going toe to toe with Manchester City over the last five years.

However, the Italian remarked that Jurgen Klopp’s men would not have been able to get to the level they have without significant investment into the squad.

The 53-year-old added: “First of all, I think that Liverpool have to be proud because in the last five years they were the big, big rivals for Manchester City. Otherwise, without Liverpool, I think maybe Manchester City could do in the same way as Juventus was in Italy.

“So for this reason they have to be proud to reach this level and I think they improved a lot in these years during the transfer market with the big, big signings, and this is a positive thing I’m telling to Liverpool because you can have money to spend, but if you waste your money, you don’t sign good players and you can have whatever money you want, but you have to spend it in the best possible way.

“I think that Liverpool did this in this period, otherwise I think it was really, really difficult to become the first rival for Manchester City. For this reason, they signed really, really important players. They spent money.

“But, I repeat, I’m talking in a positive way because for sure Klopp has changed Liverpool and the club gave him the possibility to invest because at the end you can work what you want, to work a lot, to work and not to sleep during the day, but, at the end, you know need important players, you need really strong players if you want to win, if you want to go to another level.

“Otherwise, you have to be honest and to tell that you have other ambitions, to grow young players and to wait, but, about Liverpool, I don’t know if they can’t compete financially with this monster.

“For sure, we are talking about an important club in the world with the possibility to spend a lot of money, but it’s important to spend the money in the right because sometimes you can sign players for £50m, £60m, £80m, £100m, £120m and you know very well that happened in the past and you wasted your money.

“But if you want to go to another level and be competitive, especially in England, to win in England, you need to invest, not only to invest but to invest a lot of money.”

Spurs Web Opinion

I believe that the reason Conte is not willing to say anything about the club’s January plans is that he is yet to sit down with the Tottenham hierarchy to make concrete plans.

I believe those discussions will probably occur during the mid-season break for the World Cup, along with talks over a new contract for the Italian. I remain confident that the club will continue to back Conte and do what it takes to get him to commit his future.

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