Tottenham board now sent ‘very clear’ hint before January window

Tottenham Hotspur’s squad needs strengthening this January thanks to the impact of the winter World Cup, believes Sky Sports journalist Michael Bridge.

Is Tottenham’s squad big enough to challenge?

Tottenham heavily recruited over the summer, bringing in seven big-name signings including Richarlison and Yves Bissouma, as well as securing the permanent signing of Cristiano Romero.

It was a huge sign of investment in manager Antonio Conte, however, despite Spurs sitting in fourth place in the Premier League and being through to the last sixteen in the Champions League, there is concern of the quality in the depth of the squad.

Injuries to Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski have left the Italian short of attacking options, while Romero’s absence in defence has also been felt by the side.

With a World Cup looming in less than two weeks, there is no indication of what Conte’s squad may look like after the tournament, and ahead of the January transfer window.

What does Bridge say about the squad depth?

Michael Bridge says that the squad size needs to be different this year due to the usual nature of having a World Cup in the middle of the season.

The Sky Sports reporter told GIVEMESPORT: “Now, going into January, I think it’s very clear that I think Spurs are a little bit light on the bench, when they were at home to Newcastle and bringing on Ben Davies and Matt Doherty when they were one down with 10 minutes to go.

“Now there have been injuries, but you have to have a bigger squad this season. Usually, managers want a squad of 23, this year, it has to be 26-27 because of these injuries you’re going to get. There are going to be injuries at the World Cup and there’s gonna be fatigue after the World Cup.”

Which Tottenham players will appear at the World Cup?

If Tottenham are to challenge for honours after the World Cup, they will firstly hope to see their big names return from Qatar not nursing any major injuries.

Harry Kane will be expected to play in every game for England, while Richarlison and Son Heung-Min will also be key components of their international set-ups for Brazil and South Korea – as long as Son recovers from his broken eye socket in time.

You can also add Hugo Lloris (France), Romero (Argentina), Eric Dier (England), Ivan Perisic (Croatia) and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Denmark) to the list of Spurs first-team stars who are likely to play considerable minutes at the tournament.

Even if Spurs do avoid any major injury concerns there is still a belief extra bodies could be required in the second half of the season, and could see some movement from the club in the January transfer window.

They have been linked with a move for Everton starlet Anthony Gordon, who could help add more firepower to the Tottenham attack with seven Premier League goals to his name to date in his career. Meanwhile, Conte is also still reportedly keen on Inter Milan centre-back Alessandro Bastoni.

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