Antonio Conte has appeared to aim a thinly-veiled dig at former Tottenham bosses Mauricio Pochettino and Jose Mourinho over their transfer mistakes at the club.
Conte took over the helm from Nuno Espirito Santo in November and immediately strengthened his squad with two new arrivals in the January transfer window.
Juventus Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur both joined on deadline day, with the former signing on a loan with an obligation to buy clause for £29.2million if certain criteria are met, and the latter in a deal worth £21.5m.
And while the Spurs boss will no doubt be pleased with his January signings, Conte warned that the club must raise their game when trying to sign players in the transfer market going forward.
“We have to pay more attention in the market to sign players,” he said. “It becomes of fundamental importance.”
Conte also shared some thoughts on new signing Kulusevski, who had previously been at Juventus since 2019 following his move from fellow Serie A side Atalanta.
“Kulusevski - good player, very young and great talent,” Conte added. “He can play No 9 or No 10 but also has the potential to play wing-back. Good quality."
Conte’s words perhaps allude to the previous signings made under Pochettino and Mourinho which haven’t gone according to plan.
Tanguy Ndombele joined Pochettino's Spurs side in a club-record move worth £63m in July 2019 from Ligue 1 side Lyon, but the move didn’t work out for the Frenchman.
Ndombele’s spell in north London was tarnished by injuries which prevented the 25-year-old from nailing down a regular starting berth.
In his most recent appearance for the club, the midfielder was booed off the pitch by sections of the Spurs crowd when substituted during their 3-1 win over Morecambe in the FA Cup third round at the beginning of last month.
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Ndombele returned to Lyon on loan on deadline day until the end of the season, while the French club also have the option to buy back their former player.
The 25-year-old will be a direct replacement for highly-rated midfielder Bruno Guimaraes who joined relegation threatened Newcastle in a £40m move.
Fellow deadline day departee Giovani Lo Celso is another Pochettino signing that didn’t work out in the way it was once hoped.
The 25-year-old will spend the rest of the season on loan at Villarreal in La Liga, but unlike Ndombele, there is no option to buy clause.
Pochettino snapped up the Argentine central midfielder from Real Betis in 2020 on a permanent deal following a loan spell with Spurs in the previous season, but Lo Celso has struggled to make an impact.
Lo Celso had made just two Premier League starts under Conte in 13 appearances this season, before leaving for Villarreal.
Similarly, Matt Doherty – who arrived at the club during the Mourinho era – has also fallen out of favour at Spurs.
And with Conte revealing that Kulusevski can also operate as a wing-back, it’s only likely to spell further bad news for the 30-year-old’s career in north London.
Conte’s side will play host to Graham Potter’s Brighton in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
