Antonio Conte has a very clear saying when it comes to players that he believes deserve to be in his squad.
"I can count on him" is the expression you will hear the Tottenham Hotspur head coach come out with when a player is in his plans.
For example, in the past month alone, Conte has declared publicly that he can count on both Harry Winks and Steven Bergwijn and the two players, who have not been regular starters in the past year or under him, remained as Spurs players beyond the end of the January transfer window because he wanted them to.
Others were not so fortunate as Conte had called for a brutal culling of those he could not 'count on', having presented his detailed evaluation on every player to the club's hierarchy at the beginning of the month.
The Italian said that he hoped Spurs chairman Daniel Levy and managing director of football Fabio Paratici listened to his evaluations of them. They did.
Gone are Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso and Dele Alli, the first two on loan to Lyon and Villarreal respectively with options to be bought and the latter gone permanently to Everton initially on a free transfer but with future fees that could reach up to £40m.
Conte wanted a cleansing of unhappy voices from the dressing room and he also has little time for those he considers to be mavericks or not willing to sacrifice everything for the greater good of the team.
The writing was on the wall for Ndombele within a couple of weeks of Conte's arrival when he made his feelings very clear to football.london about the Frenchman.
"I have seen that many managers struggled about his position," he said with a knowing smile. "For sure, Tanguy has the quality but at the same time he has to understand that there is a team and he has to play into the team. It means that it’s important to keep order and to do what the position is asking you to do.
"We are working very hard with Tanguy – he has to work much more than the others because he has some talent but he has to put this talent into the team, for the best of the team, not for the single player."
Ndombele rarely started and was exiled to train alone this month in what was called 'specialised conditioning treatment' as Conte made it clear that he wanted him out of his squad.
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.
Pochettino once called for a 'painful rebuild' at Spurs. Conte has had to ask for another rebuild to fix that bodged one.
With Alli, who has struggled to find a place under every manager since Pochettino departed, the club have finally let go of a player who seemed destined to be one of the English game's greats, scoring so many goals in the big matches in his early seasons, but has fallen off a cliff with his development in recent years.
Then there is 20-year-old Bryan Gil, who it was decided needed regular starts for his development which he would not receive under Conte this season.
He was sent on loan to Valencia until the end of the campaign and that in itself, Spurs sending a £25m summer signing out just six months after he arrived, also showcased the ruthless nature of the new era under Conte and the power he and Paratici now wield.
While all managers will always want more in a transfer window, and Conte is no different, those around the Italian have told football.london that he is content with the early changes made at his behest in his first transfer window.
It was always acknowledged that the summer window would be the key one to really start transforming the squad into Conte's image but the new head coach called for some changes in a January window that he knew was a difficult one to do so within.
More could have been done, a new right wing-back and a striker particularly, but the Italian specifically asked for a central midfielder and he got one in Rodrigo Bentancur.
He also got a creative and versatile attacker in Dejan Kulusevski, who can play on the right or in a central attacking midfield role as well as up front as an auxiliary striker, which does at least provide another option to tide Spurs over until they finally fix that festering hole in their squad in the summer.
That Paratici ended up raiding his old club late on for the club's two signings in the window does not speak volumes for the wide net he was expected to cast across the globe as the transfer guru Levy chased for half a decade.
However, that should not detract from the suitability of both new players for Conte and the Tottenham squad being built for him.
Bentancur is a winner despite his age - lifting the Serie A title in three consecutive seasons - and will bring more aggression, the ability to keep the ball in tight situations to Tottenham's midfield and move it on quickly to the attacking players.
The Uruguay international was particularly pivotal in the third of those title-winning campaigns in 2019/20 at just 22-years-old. He has been a regular for the Turin side until this campaign brought a formation change under new manager Massimiliano Allegri that did not fit his attributes.
Paratici sensed an opportunity and took it with a deal that will see Spurs pay Juventus £15.86m, payable over three years, for the now 24-year-old and that may increase by an additional £5m if certain objectives are met during the term of the Uruguayan's four-and-a-half year contract.
He will join up with the Spurs squad later this week following Uruguay's World Cup qualifying match at home against Venezuela on Tuesday evening.
Conte wanted Kulusevski when he was Inter boss, only for his old side Juventus to seal the deal and the Swede duly went on to be voted Serie A's young player of the year in 2020 following an eye-catching loan season at Parma.
The 21-year-old is physically suited for the Premier League and will suit Conte's system with two number 10s behind the striker, able to operate in the centre of the pitch or pushing out to the right-hand side.
Tottenham will pay £8.3m for the 18-month loan - £2.5m this season and £5.8m for next. There is also an obligation to buy him permanently if certain sporting criteria are met and an option to still do so if not, both are for £29.2m, which is payable within five years.
It's a long-term try before you buy deal and if Kulusevski does impress in the Premier League, as Paratici is certain he will, then it's a fee that could be reasonable for a player his age.
The young midfielder's first interview at Tottenham was full of buzzwords that Conte will appreciate, constantly talking about the team and how everything he does is for those around him.
It was not a perfect transfer window for Spurs - far from it - and high profile talks to sign Adama Traore and Luis Diaz ultimately hit the rocks when their preferred clubs were flushed out to enter the fray.
However, it started the overhaul under Conte and that ruthless edge to the deals out of the club shows that the head coach is not willing to carry any passengers.
It was a second successive window when Levy had to take a hit on numerous expensive players and forgo the rarely met transfer fees he would have held out for in the past.
The squad is two players down from when the window started but they were players the Italian saw no future for in his team.
As a result the squad is definitely leaner and hungrier, without dissatisfied voices behind the scenes, for a second half to the season that contains no European football.
There is also the return of Cristian Romero, who Conte is excited about building his defence around, while Son Heung-min is also back following his own injury absence to add another important player to the pitch.
Conte has always said that he wants two players in every position in his squads and, if Japhet Tanganga is seen as the back-up left-sided centre-back, then he has that still with this squad, apart from up front with Harry Kane the only recognised natural striker.
Once again that puts pressure on keeping a forward who wants to start every match somehow wrapped in cotton wool, although Conte believes Bergwijn can play there and Kulusevski can also to give him a rest at times.
How the squad is impacted by injuries or Covid cases in the attacking midfield areas remains to be seen with those departed players now unable to take their place on the bench.
The versatility of Ryan Sessegnon could improve his chances of minutes at both ends of the pitch, while young players like Harvey White, Jamie Bowden and Dane Scarlett will all have to be on standby in the months ahead and is likely why the former two did not head out on loan back into the Football League.
Also of concern is that right wing-back area with Emerson Royal and Matt Doherty struggling to impress with their attacking intent in the role.
That is where Conte will have to earn his salary, using his undoubted coaching ability to squeeze every drop of ability out of the two players down that flank for the remainder of the season.
Spurs' transfer window could have been much better, even within the limits of January, but the process has begun and Conte is believed to be content at what has been done.
The Tottenham fans have constantly called on the club to 'shift the deadwood' and despite the brutal nature of the phrase, Conte agreed and he got what he wanted in that respect.
His contentment will help the club because the Italian is not shy in letting his feelings be known when he's dissatisfied, although that could yet come if those injuries bite.
The Spurs squad is being reconstructed in Conte's own image and the club has made some ruthless decisions on his request since that meeting when he made his feelings very clear.
However, it's crucial that it's just the start of Tottenham's Italian job.
