Yves Bissouma, Eriksen, Hojbjerg, Pape Matar Sarr and what happens now in Spurs' midfield

Antonio Conte demanded depth to his Tottenham Hotspur team for the new campaign and the arrival of Yves Bissouma has added a major dollop of quality to his midfield ingredients.

Conte grew frustrated with the absence of Oliver Skipp in the second half of last season, publicly bringing the club's medical department into the spotlight. It's not just that the Italian believes the 21-year-old is going to become a big player for Spurs, but it was also that he feared his midfield options were so limited had there been further injury problems.

In the end Conte got lucky. Other than a Rodrigo Bentancur ankle injury which kept the January signing out for just one Premier League game and one FA Cup match, the three remaining Spurs first team midfielders managed to soldier through, patched up and playing with knocks aplenty.

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In fact, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Bentancur ticked the biggest Conte box - availability. It's a word you will constantly hear the 52-year-old use when praising players. All managers want players who want to put their bodies on the line for them and will play through the pain rather than bow out at the first uncomfortable feeling and Conte looks for it as one of his top qualities.

The lack of midweek matches helped in the second half of last season as ultimately Conte only needed to hand Harry Winks one Premier League start from mid-February onwards and that was because of that Bentancur ankle injury. Other than that the 26-year-old played just 65 minutes worth of league football from the bench from that point. Young academy central midfielder Harvey White was on the bench for 19 of the final 22 Premier League matches