Antonio Conte has given a prickly response when asked on Tottenham’s need for new additions in the January transfer window.
Conte embarked on a rant following Spurs’ 2-0 loss to Aston Villa on New Year’s Day, after which the north Londoners were booed from the pitch. It was a fourth defeat in seven league games for Spurs, who dropped to fifth in the table, and Conte described last season’s top four finish as a ‘miracle’.
He also discussed the difficulty in competing with the Premier League’s wealthiest sides and called pre-season expectations of a title challenge ‘crazy’. Despite stating that Spurs need ‘two players priced £50m, £60m, £70m’ every season to compete at the top of the division, he hit back at the suggestion that his comments were a plea for January additions.
“I didn’t suggest anything. I didn’t suggest anything,” Conte said at his pre-match press conference ahead of Spurs’ trip to Crystal Palace.
“This is the difference. I understand that maybe my English is not so good and maybe you don’t understand which is my thought. I didn’t suggest anything. I said only what we are doing, which is the project, which is the programme. But I didn’t suggest anything.
“I said where we are and what we are doing. I don’t want to comment again on other situations, also because understanding that I try to explain one situation and you understand a different situation, like now because you said ‘I am suggesting’.
“I am not suggesting anything. The club knows which is the situation and I repeat: there is a project.
“I explained which is this project, that the club has this project to create a foundation. Not me or other people. I think the situation was very clear and I don’t want to come back again today.”
