Antonio Conte on if Tottenham Hotspur will sign a Dejan Kulusevski alternative in the January transfer window
Antonio Conte dropped an unwelcome bit of an update on Tottenham Hotspur winger Dejan Kulusevski, saying that the Sweden international faced a setback during recovery from his latest fitness issue.
Sp[taking at his pre-match press conference before the game against Newcastle United on Saturday (h/t Football.London). Conte claimed that Kulusevski could even be out until the FIFA World Cup commences on November 20.
During the line of questioning, the Italian manager was asked if Spurs could dip in the January transfer window to sign a potential alternative for the former Juventus winger. Conte replied:
“Now we need to finish this period. You have important injuries and you need to face the situation in the best possible way then we’ll see until the last game in November and then we’ll see the situation and if we need to do something or continue in the same way.”
“Now we need to be focused and it’s not easy this period and I ask our fans to be close to us.”
A rather inconclusive reply but it does open the possibility of Spurs making a move in the winter if the injury situation in attack deepens or even stays the same.
The lack of a strong bench against Manchester United arguably cost us big time, while the lack of fit first-team attackers saw us shift to a 3-5-2 formation – a set-up which isn’t Conte’s first choice.
Keeping Steven Bergwijn wouldn’t have been a bad move but then again, it would have been very difficult to guarantee him playing time. Moreover, we signed Richarlison this summer.
The issue with adding depth to the team with quality players always has one big question – what happens when the team can’t guarantee first-team minutes to the potential new arrival? And what will happen to him once the first-team stars are back?
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A loan move wouldn’t hurt. Rodrigo Bentancur and Kulusevski’s arrival in this year’s January window shows that the former Inter Milan manager isn’t against the idea of mid-season additions.
