Tottenham Hotspur have prioritised trying to make three key signings during this month’s transfer window following a no-holds-barred meeting between chairman Daniel Levy, managing director of football Fabio Paratici and head coach Antonio Conte.
Levy flew back to England from the Bahamas, where Telegraph Sport revealed he had spent time with Spurs owner Joe Lewis, on Sunday and met with Conte and Paratici on Monday.
It is understood the trio agreed to make a right wing-back, with Paratici in talks over a move for Wolverhampton Wanderers star Adama Traore, a midfielder and an attacker their top targets this month as Conte prepares to find out if Tottenham can act on his recommendations.
Conte would ideally also like to sign a new central defender, but that may have to wait until the summer unless an opportunity arises.
Other than discussing transfers, Conte delivered his verdict on the current squad, which is unlikely to have made for comfortable listening for Levy, who has admitted the club’s recruitment must improve following four-and-a-half years of mismanagement that has seen a big gap open between Spurs and their opponents on Wednesday night, Chelsea.
Following last week’s 2-0 Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg defeat to Chelsea, Conte described the level of Tottenham’s squad as “middle” and the club are prepared to loan out or sell record signing Tanguy Ndombele, who was booed off the pitch by supporters during the FA Cup third-round comeback against League One Morecambe.
Ajax are interested in Steven Bergwijn, but the Dutch club have yet to get anywhere near meeting Totteham’s valuation, while Spurs are also open to selling or loaning out Matt Doherty and Dele Alli. Harry Winks has done enough to convince Conte that he should stay.
“With Paratici, I have the possibility to speak every day, so to have the possibility to speak with our chairman it was important,” said Conte. “Also because I like to have this type of relationship, to be honest and to always tell the truth. You know I don’t like to tell a good lie to keep a good relationship, to show me very soft or to be too polite. It was good to tell the truth and it was a good meeting.
“The club asked after one month to have a meeting and I said no, I preferred to have another month to make the right evaluation. It’s honest, to give more time to me and also the players, to show me who deserves to stay here. Now the situation is very clear and I had this meeting. I was satisfied to have this conversation with the chairman and now it’s ok for me.
“Now I have only one way. It’s on the pitch and the training sessions every day. My only way to improve the situation is to improve the level of my players and this way the level of the team is going to rise. Then, the club know the situation and if they want to help me another way I appreciate it. Otherwise, I continue to work the way I am working.”
AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie is out of contract in the summer and has attracted Tottenham’s interest.
