Not long to go in the winter transfer window now, and suffice to say that it’s been an absolute disaster for Tottenham Hotspur.
Perhaps what’s more telling is that precisely no one will be surprised by it.
Spurs supporters might consider their club to be one of the ‘big six’ still, but that’s stretching things just a little too far.
Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure notwithstanding, they’ve not really been that for years.
The way that the club appears to conduct its transfer business is amateur at best and Antonio Conte must be pulling his (regrown) hair out.
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For a serial winner, going to a club with a reputation for frugality was a risk in itself, but maybe the Italian believed that his will could bend that of those in the corridors of power.
Clearly, he hadn’t met Daniel Levy before taking the position, or else he would’ve known that the chairman wasn’t a man for turning.
A man who knows the value of every penny and every pound the club spends, and is notoriously stubborn when it comes to haggling on transfer deals.
That has to be the reason why the North Londoners have already seemingly lost out on Adama Traore (to Barcelona) and Luis Diaz (to Liverpool), despite being favourites to sign both players earlier in the window.
Frankly, Conte is going to get nowhere close to building a title-winning squad whilst Levy holds the purse strings, and with such a lack of ambition undeniable, it’s about time the former Inter manager packed up his bags and moved on.
He doesn’t need to waste any more of his time at White Hart Lane.