Antonio Conte demands Tottenham cut out transfer mistakes after ‘strange’ January window

Antonio Conte says Tottenham must stop making mistakes in the transfer market to close the gap to their rivals after admitting it was "not normal" that four recent signings left the club on loan in January.

Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso, Jack Clarke – all signed in 2019 – and summer signing Bryan Gil all departed Spurs on temporary deals last month, while Dele Alli joined Everton on a permanent transfer. Spurs signed two players, both from Juventus, in Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevki.

Ndombele, Lo Celso and Clarke cost a combined £120million, joining the club under former manager Mauricio Pochettino and then chief scout Steve Hitchen, who resigned from his post as technical performance director on Wednesday.

Gil was recruited by Spurs' current managing director, Fabio Paratici, in a deal from Sevilla worth £20m plus Erik Lamela, although Conte appeared to suggest Spurs had not done their due diligence on the 20-year-old winger, who has returned to LaLiga on loan with Valencia.

Ndombele returned to his former club Lyon, Lo Celso joined Villarreal and Clarke, who has barely made a senior appearance for Spurs, moved to League One Sunderland.

"It was strange in January to send four on loan, and sell one player," Conte said ahead of Saturday's FA Cup fourth-round tie at home to Brighton. "It means maybe you have to understand that there were some mistakes in the past.

"Because usually you have to buy players to reinforce your team. But if you send away players on loan you bought in the last two or three years, it means maybe you did something wrong in the past.

"Honestly, before arriving at Tottenham, to read the list of players you have in the squad, I considered all the players are important, no?

"Because Ndombele