Conte bemoans Spurs disadvantage in transfer market

Antonio Conte believes the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United retain a "big advantage" over Tottenham due to their spending in the final days of the transfer window but is happy with the progress they have made this summer. Spurs signed seven players by July 19 to raise expectations in north London and are unbeaten after five Premier League games.

Fellow top-six rivals Chelsea and United have endured some early-season struggles but were active this week. Wesley Fofana moved to Stamford Bridge in a €80.91million deal while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also signed for Thomas Tuchel's men, and Brazil winger Antony joined United in an initial €94.90million switch on transfer deadline day, with Tottenham untraditionally quiet.

Speaking ahead of Saturday's visit of Fulham, Conte said: "Honestly, if you sign a player for #100million or £80million on the last day, you have a big advantage because it means you are signing a top player, you understand? You can sign also a player for free or on loan and it is a different situation. "I want to be very clear.

I think we did what we could do and in the right time because the vision was very clear about the money to spend, about to get the free players or on loan because then we spent money on two players, Richarlison and then (Yves) Bissouma. "The others were on loan or a free but for sure to have a vision and to anticipate and to give the coach the possibility to work from the start I think it means we work very well with a vision, very clear, and not wait until the last day for a player to come on loan or to sign a player with characteristics that are not good for our team.

"I repeat, we're going in the right way for the capacity in this moment of the club to invest money. Then we