Soccer-Conte says Spurs' focus is on developing young players

(Reuters) - Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte said the club's current focus was on signing younger players who still needed to gain experience.

"If you want to grow faster, you want to try to be more competitive faster, you also need players with a lot of experience because then they increase the experience in your team," he told Italian Sky Sport in an interview.

Conte, who helped Serie A's Inter Milan to win the title last year and break Juventus's nine-year win streak, said Spurs came out of the January transfer window numerically weakened.

"What happened in January isn't easy. Four players left, four important players for Tottenham, and two have arrived. So, numerically, instead of getting stronger, you could be, on paper, weaker."

Spurs sent midfielders Tanguy Ndombele, Bryan Gil, and Giovani Lo Celso on loan to Olympique Lyonnais, Valencia, and Villarreal, respectively, while fellow midfielder Dele Alli moved to Everton.

Conte said the signing of midfielders Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur from Juventus was nevertheless in line with the vision at the club.

"Bentancur and Kulusevski are... the perfect prospect for Tottenham because Tottenham look for young players, players they can help develop and not players who are ready."

Tottenham, eighth in the Premier League table on 36 points after 22 games, travel to leaders Manchester City on Saturday.

(Reporting by Silvia Recchimuzzi in Gdansk; editing by Clare Fallon)