Over the course of the past decade only one Tottenham Hotspur manager has been truly happy at the end of a transfer window. That was Jose Mourinho in the summer of 2020, when, having believed he might only sign Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Spurs finished it with the Dane, Gareth Bale, Sergio Reguilon and Matt Doherty.

Every other manager, dating all the way back to Harry Redknapp, has been left either underwhelmed or unconvinced at the end of each window, and it would be fair to assume that Tottenham’s latest head coach Antonio Conte did not sit back and toast this year’s winter window with a glass of his favourite red wine when it shut at 11pm on Monday night.

Conte has been careful not to publicly commit himself to Spurs past the next four months and, while he may well declare himself satisfied with the club’s business when quizzed ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Brighton, chairman Daniel Levy and managing director Fabio Paratici are unlikely to have done enough to put supporters’ minds at rest that the 52-year will at least see out his contract that runs to the end of next season.

When the trio met to talk transfers, following Levy’s return from the Bahamas, 10 days into the window, Conte recommended three additions. He got two. The Italian hoped for players who might make an immediate impact. Only time will tell whether Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentacur can, but there are no guarantees. Most of all, Conte hoped for a sign that Spurs share his winning ambition, but there has been no real proof of that.

Despite appointing one of the most successful coaches of his generation, Tottenham continue to live in hope – something that Conte is uncomfortable with. The club hope he can deliver a miracle, just as they hope their two new signings, who have spent considerable time on the Juventus substitutes’ bench, can make a difference, just as they hope the inactivity of Arsenal and West Ham United helps to keep their top-four ambition alive.

Conte could not have been clearer over recent weeks that simply hoping they can sneak into the top four will not be enough for him. Neither will any attempted PR spin around a transfer window that saw Tottenham get rid of four players, one of whom only arrived in the summer, and sign two – missing out on at least two of their top targets.

It was ahead of the transfer summit with Levy and Paratici, at which he highlighted the need to sign a right wing-back, a midfielder and an attacker, that Conte said: “To use this verb ‘to win’ is more simple than winning. Because to win, you have to build something important, be solid, have an important squad. Then you’re ready to win. Otherwise you have to hope.”

Having missed out on Adama Traore, despite pursuing him since the summer and for the entirety of January, Levy and Paratici delivered Conte a midfielder and an attacker. One of those two players was meant to be Luis Diaz, but he went to Liverpool instead.

The sense of panic and outrage that followed seeing their moves for Traore and Diaz hijacked encouraged Paratici to return to familiar territory to finally get some late deals over the line.

Supporters of his former club have been thanking the 49-year-old for helping Juventus to pay off the Dejan Vlahovic fee, by signing Bentacur for £15.8million, with the possibility of another £5.7m in add-ons to follow, and paying an £8.4m loan fee to sign Kulusevski for 18 months with the obligation to complete a £29.2m permanent deal if certain conditions are met.