How do you think the January transfer window has gone from a Spurs point of view?
Just one month and not three months like the summer and a lot of clubs don't want to move some players. So it's a market where we speak about opportunities.
It's normally in January that we're more looking for a specific position. I think we found the right players in the right position.
Players like Bentancur and Kulusevski, they are younger but they have a lot of experience, because Bentancur plays five years in Juventus and almost 200 games and Kulusevski almost 100.
They play for their national team and at the World Cup or European Championships. They are young players and we have to develop them for sure. They can improve in this league, in this squad, with this coach, but also they already have good experience.
Rodrigo is a midfielder, a complete midfielder so he is box-to-box and he is a really reliable player. Dejan is just 21, with 10 goals and 10 assists for Juventus so he's a really good prospect but also he is ready to play because he also played 35 games in Parma and he scored a lot. He's really a big prospect in Europe.
Both of the players have a lot of character, a lot of intensity. Dejan is a forward but he runs a lot, he fights a lot, he has a lot of personality, a big personality. He is very ambitious and this is the most important skill that he has.
How do you feel getting to see Hugo Lloris signing to stay here until 2024?
When we spoke before about character, mentality and intelligence, about ambition, this is the right example. He is our captain and he is the right example for everybody and the right example for the club to give to the dressing room, to give to the fans, that he has signed.
He's a really, really good person and a good captain. I've known him for a long time so I'm not surprised about his style of play or his level of play, but I'm really happy to know him as a person, because he is one of those people that you can improve yourself by listening to, to speak to him you can improve a lot.
What would you like to say about Dele moving to Everton?
First of all I would like to thank him for his time here. I'm absolutely convinced that it's the right time for him to have a new challenge and I wish him well and all the best for the future.
Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso and Bryan Gil all went out on loan deals, can you just talk about those moves for those players?
They need more games. Just this. So no special motivation about it. They just need games and I think they will have in the new clubs. They are our players, so our assets and of course we have to follow them. I repeat, they need just minutes, it's not about the quality but about the time.
How did you find working with Antonio Conte over the course of the transfer window and how much did you work together in terms of the targets you went after?
Always I work near to the coach about the transfer window. With Antonio we know for a long time and we work together a long time and we achieve big results. We speak every day a long time every day about how we can improve the team, how we can improve the mentality of the team, not just about skills about players, but also about mentality, environment, style of football.
We speak about all the time, but not just in January. We speak all the time every day because we stay together and I watch the training every day. We eat together, we stay together. It's normal to have this kind of relation.
Tell us about your approach to the January transfer window....
It's normal for us to be in the middle of this kind of rumours and it's also normal when you start the race and to fight to sign big players. We are a big club, there are 10-12 big clubs in the world, so it's normal when you start to race or to fight to sign a big player. Of course you have somebody that deserves to sign this player too.
Sometimes you win, as what happened with [Cristian] Romero in the summer, and sometimes you can lose the race. I think the worst and strange thing is not being in the race. We are here to build something bigger and I know, we know we need patience and time to build something. We can't build something in one month, six months, we need time. We have to be committed and, like I said before, to be in the race when there is somebody good enough for us.
We want to sign players who can improve our team, we don't sign just to sign. That is not useful for the club, not useful for the coach, not useful for everybody. There are some positions where we searched and find solutions and others where we don't have this kind of opportunities. It's ok, we go ahead, we go forward with our players and we are happy about it.
Talk to us more about the rebuilding of the squad and the dressing room...
If we speak about rebuild, we have to think back six or seven months ago when I was talking about a rebuild of the team. Normally a rebuild takes time.
We sold some players in between the summer and January, which have a lot of seasons here, which maybe need other motivation. and we bought players, younger with motivation, with technical level, with good mentality to improve the team now and in the future especially.
As a project we have to spend time doing it. We signed one of the best coaches in the world, so I think we are in a good direction.
Are the characteristics so important?
To have a good group, we need a good dressing room who follows the coach and the ambition of the club and achieves the target, we need a person before a player. That's the most important thing for me.
Everyone understands about the skills of the players, what we need, what the coach asks and we have to follow this direction.
Are you planning for summer?
It is a strange question because we finished yesterday about January. Now we have three or four months that are really, really tough. We can check where the team needs, what the coach thinks about this and when we arrive in May after the season we can check better and we can know what we have to do in the summer.
Now is early to say what we need in the summer. I am very positive, I think the work balance is the most important. We want to achieve this type of situation, to have a balanced roster which in every position has players, the right players, committed, focused with good mentality, good dressing room.
We have to live every day to improve ourselves, to arrive at the game and to have the best chance we can. We have to think and to love like this, not about long-term results. When we improve ourselves we are better and have a good mentality we for sure improve our results.
Do you have a message to the fans after the January window?
The end of January is just one point in the season, I would like to say thanks for your support in every game. It is amazing to play here in this stadium and away they are always with us. We need them, we need their energy, their positive energy because if we are to achieve our results we need every one of us to give the right energy.
