Tottenham: Antonio Conte WAS warned about limited January funds

Antonio Conte was warned his January spending would be severely restricted before agreeing to become Tottenham boss amid emerging concerns his future will hinge on the club’s summer transfer dealings.

Conte appeared to criticise his side’s January recruitment in an interview with Sky Italia in which he suggested Tottenham’s January window has made his squad weaker.

Tottenham signed Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur last month, but offloaded Tanguy Ndombele, Dele Alli, Bryan Gil and Giovani Lo Celso.

The club brought in Dejan Kulusevski (left) and Rodrigo Bentancur in the January window

They offloaded four players during =January window including Dele Alli (pictured) to Everton

There was certainly an element of surprise at Tottenham on Wednesday, with well-placed sources insisting Conte knew there would be little money to spend on new additions last month.

Spurs expect Conte to see out the season despite his public outburst but there are internal concerns that the club’s summer recruitment will have a major influence on the head coach’s future ahead of next season.

For now, however, unless there is a drastic change of direction in the short-term there is a confidence at Spurs that Conte has no immediate intention of leaving before the club start the summer.

There was surprise at Tottenham over Conte’s comments on the window (pictured Daniel Levy)

There is a sense Conte won’t walk away from the challenge of trying to secure a top-four finish and win the FA Cup.

Indeed, in the second part of his interview with Sky Italia, the Spurs boss insisted he was ‘happy’ at Tottenham.

The Italian said: ‘Tottenham has been in the middle of the table for so many years. But here this did not scare me.

‘I am certainly happy with the way we are working. I think we are doing a lot but I am realising being inside the situation that it will take time and patience because there are many young players even at their first experience in the Premier League who need to grow, gain experience and raise their level.’

Conte enters the final 12 months of his contract in the summer and how the club’s transfer dealings develop ahead of next season is likely to have a bearing on whether the Italian feels he has a longer-term future at Tottenham.

Conte is set to finish the season but there is concern over his future going into next season