Antonio Conte was warned his January spending would be severely restricted before being agreeing to become Tottenham boss amid emerging concerns his future will hinge on the club’s summer transfer dealings.
Conte appeared to criticise his side’s January recruitment in an interview with Sky Italia in which he suggested Tottenham’s January window has made his squad weaker.
Tottenham signed Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur last month, but offloaded Tanguy Ndombele, Dele Alli, Bryan Gil and Giovani Lo Celso.
There was certainly an element of surprise at Tottenham on Wednesday, with well-placed sources insisting Conte knew there would be little money to spend on new additions last month.