CON-FUSED
Antonio Conte admits he doesn’t know what position Tanguy Ndombele plays but confirms Harry Winks will stay at Tottenham
HARRY WINKS looks to have saved his Tottenham career.
The midfielder, who seemed to be heading out of the club under previous boss Nuno Espirito Santo, has been hailed as Mr Reliable by new gaffer Antonio Conte, who insisted the rejuvenated star would now be staying in N17.
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But the Spurs chief was not so gushing about Tanguy Ndombele.
When asked at his Press conference what role he sees the Frenchman having in his squad, Conte answered bluntly: “He is a midfielder. I think… he is a midfielder.”
Ouch! It was another blow for record £65million buy Ndombele, who has hardly had a look-in since Conte arrived nearly two months ago.
He could do with taking a leaf out of Winks' book.
The homegrown academy product has come in from the cold to become one of Tottenham’s key men in recent matches.
Conte said: “Winksy is playing well. And Winks has shown to be a reliable player. And for this reason, Winksy will stay here.
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“I find players that are reliable, and then I can count on them and Winksy showed me that I can count on him.”
Conte’s comments showed clearly he does not think he can rely on Ndombele.
The Italian said last month the former Lyon man needs to learn how to become a team player.
Asked if Ndombele had been working on this, Conte said: “I pay the same attention to all of my players. In every single session, I pay great attention to every single player.
“My concentration is not only for 12 or 13 or 14 players, for the whole squad. And then, there are players who understand very well, while other players need more time or find it difficult to understand some situations.”
Tottenham travel to Watford on Saturday without the injured Cristian Romero, Ryan Sessegnon, Giovani Lo Celso and Steven Bergwijn.
But striker Harry Kane will lead the line again as he looks to net for the fourth Premier League game in a row.
Conte said: “Harry is in good form and you can see that he’s playing very well. He’s available to play against Watford.
“Also because we had three to four days after the last game against Southampton so for this reason there’s time to recover, rest, have a training session and be ready to play against Watford.”
Keeper Hugo Lloris, whose contract expires in the summer, will be allowed to sign a pre-contract agreement with an overseas club when the transfer window reopens this weekend.
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But Conte believes the France skipper wants to stay at Spurs and will sign a new deal with them.
Conte said: “For sure, he will talk with the club, to try to find a solution.
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“Am I confident he wants to stay?
“I think so, I think so. I think Hugo wants to stay in this club, he loves this club, he stays well in Tottenham. I think this could be his opinion.”
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