Antonio Conte appears to drop double transfer hint in win over Southampton

Conte appears to hints at the futures of Tottenham duo Japhet Tanganga and Pepe Matar Sarr

Tottenham Hotspur began their new season in the best way possible by routing Southampton 4-1. But in the process, Antonio Conte seems to have dropped a hint on the future of two Spurs players (h/t Express)

Japhet Tanganga and Pepe Matar Sarr were not included in the 20-man squad by Conte. They were not the only ones as the quartet of Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso, Harry Winks and Sergio Reguilon were left out too.

This indicates that these players are not in Conte’s plans for this season. Tanganga has been linked with a move to AC Milan while Sarr could likely go out on another loan.

Davidson Sanchez and Clement Lenglet were picked ahead of Tanganga, while the trio of Cristian Romero, Eric Dier and Ben Davies formed the back three for Spurs. New signing Yves Bissouma was the only midfielder on the bench with Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg starting.

Tanganga managed to make only five Premier League starts under Conte last season. An injury sidelined him for the second half of the season. Now, he looks very less likely to feature under Conte and a move away would be beneficial.

As for Sarr, the 19-year-old spent the last season on loan at Metz and made 33 league appearances for the League 1 outfit. With four midfielders ahead of him in the pecking order, another loan move would help him to continue his development.

On the other hand, all of the five new signings were on the bench for Spurs. Ivan Perisic, Yves Bissouma and Lenglet all came off the bench to mark their debut with the club. This was the first time since 1994 that Spurs scored four in their opening match of the season.

More Tottenham News:

• Tottenham ‘confident’ about €45m transfer hijack; Paratici set to hold talks for priority target
• Tottenham outcast ‘highly rated’ by Serie A giants; potential summer transfer on the cards
• AS Roma ‘happy’ to sell Nicolo Zaniolo after transfer talks with Tottenham Hotspur

It remains to be seen where these players end up before the window closes. But if they stay, their game-time will likely be very limited and they will be aware of such. As for Conte, he could not have wished for a better start to his first full season at the club.