Antonio Conte and Fabio Paratici convince Daniel Levy to back brutal new era for Tottenham

Antonio Conte has a very clear saying when it comes to players that he believes deserve to be in his squad.

"I can count on him" is the expression you will hear the Tottenham Hotspur head coach come out with when a player is in his plans.

For example, in the past month alone, Conte has declared publicly that he can count on both Harry Winks and Steven Bergwijn and the two players, who have not been regular starters in the past year or under him, remained as Spurs players beyond the end of the January transfer window because he wanted them to.

Others were not so fortunate as Conte had called for a brutal culling of those he could not 'count on', having presented his detailed evaluation on every player to the club's hierarchy at the beginning of the month.

The Italian said that he hoped Spurs chairman Daniel Levy and managing director of football Fabio Paratici listened to his evaluations of them. They did.

Gone are Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso and Dele Alli, the first two on loan to Lyon and Villarreal respectively with options to be bought and the latter gone permanently to Everton initially on a free transfer but with future fees that could reach up to £40m.

Conte wanted a cleansing of unhappy voices from the dressing room and he also has little time for those he considers to be mavericks or not willing to sacrifice everything for the greater good of the team.

The writing was on the wall for Ndombele within a couple of weeks of Conte's arrival when he made his feelings very clear to about the Frenchman.

"I have seen that many managers struggled about his position," he said with a knowing smile. "For sure, Tanguy has the quality but at the same time he has to understand that there is a team and he has to play into