Antonio Conte opens up on Tottenham’s need to sign a second striker

Antonio Conte has suggested Tottenham must sign another striker to support Harry Kane if they are to be ambitious and compete for silverware. 

Tottenham have had problems recruiting strikers in previous transfer windows to ease the offensive burden on the England captain or slot into the side if he is out injured. 

Since Kane’s breakthrough to the senior line-up, Spurs have attempted to do that by signing the likes of Vincent Janssen, Fernando Llorente and most recently Carlos Vinicius, but all three struggled to have a lasting impact. 

Heung-min Son has often slotted alongside and in place of Kane in recent seasons, but a month-long injury is due to leave Spurs short going forward once again for the next handful of matches.

Spurs are said to be keen on recruiting a new striker with the likes of Dusan Vlahovic and Gianluca Scamacca tipped to be on their radar, and Conte hinted his side has to make sure the problem is addressed. 

He said (via Football.London): “I think that especially in this league, because the level is very high and you have to play a lot of games, if you want to have ambition, to be competitive, to fight for something important, you have to have 20 [outfield] players. 

“Two players in every role. For sure, as a coach it’s very difficult to decide to keep Harry on the bench, but at the same time, when you play the way we played in the last period – six games in 17 days – every coach has to have the possibility to make rotations and don’t drop so much the level.

“Otherwise, it’s difficult for the coach to make rotations because you want the best, but you have to know that if you want to be competitive, you need a couple of players for every role.

“Between the player who usually plays, and the other player, the gap has to be not so big in every role. This is a problem for all the teams.”

However, Conte further reiterated that it is ‘not simple’ to find another striker capable of playing at a similar level to Kane. 

He added: “It’s not easy. For sure it’s not easy. In this moment, I think in case Harry has a problem – and I hope that never happens, honestly – there’s Steven Bergwijn I can play at number nine

“He has the right characteristics to play as a number nine. I think it’s not simple to find a specific number nine, but if you’re unable to find a situation to buy players for the moment you want to rest Harry, you can take the best decision to play with a good player.”

Spurs Web Opinion 

Spurs have had this long-standing problem when it comes to having two strikers and it has often cost them at points in recent seasons. Kane has had to carry such a heavy load that he plays so many games and ends up picking up injuries. Most sides have back-ups at their disposal to avoid pluggin awkward gaps in this situation. 

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