Bentancur & Doherty in, £18m-rated "nightmare" axed: Spurs' strongest XI after January - opinion

Tottenham Hotspur made some ruthless decisions during the January transfer window as the club looks to transform Antonio Conte’s playing squad.

The north London outfit sit just two points outside of the top four with two games in hand on Manchester United and having lost just one league game under the Italian, there’s every chance of the team battling for a place in the Champions League ahead of next term.

Spurs announced the arrivals of Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski in a double swoop from sporting director Fabio Paratici’s former club, Juventus, on deadline day.

Whilst no fewer than four players saw an exit, with Tanguy Ndombele, Bryan Gil and Giovani Lo Celso departing on loan and Dele Alli ending a seven-year stint in N17 after he signed for Everton permanently.

So what is left of Conte’s squad and exactly what is his strongest lineup heading into the second half of the season? Here’s how Spurs could look with their new additions, starting with an FA Cup clash against Brighton and Hove Albion this weekend.

Both Bentancur and Kulusevski are likely to be part of Conte’s starting XI going forward. It would be foolish to not involve them after bolstering the squad as demanded.

They could slot right in, meaning academy graduate Oliver Skipp is likely to make way with the Uruguay international becoming Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s new partner. The Dane has played more minutes than the Spurs youngster, so Conte surely favours him more.

Meanwhile, the Swedish attacker is a ‘plug and play’ option in the final third, meaning he could be deployed anywhere, though it seems likely that he’s going to feature alongside Heung-min Son and Harry Kane, so that leaves the £18m-rated Lucas Moura – who was once dubbed a “nightmare” to