Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte has admitted that he was left "disturbed" by the reaction to a recent interview conducted with Sky Sport Italia.
The ex-Chelsea and Inter Milan coach oversaw the departures of Bryan Gil, Giovani Lo Celso, Dele Alli and Tanguy Ndombele in January, with Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur both arriving from Juventus.
During the interview, Conte was reported to have claimed that Spurs "weakened" the squad in January amid speculation of tensions with the board and chairman Daniel Levy.
The Italian has since launched an impassioned response, telling reporters at a press conference: "During the interview after the transfer market they asked me about the club and if I'm happy. I said the club did the best it can do," as quoted by football.london.
"We lost four players, important players for Tottenham. These players we sent away on loan cost a lot of money. Numerically you could be a bit weaker. Then I said with Kulusevski and Bentancur we are more complete.
"Sorry but I was a bit disturbed by this situation, especially because I had an interview with the Italian media. It means the club now doesn't want me to speak to Italian media because the translation was not so clear with my thoughts.
"A lot of stories between the chairman and the club. He knows my thoughts. It's not important for me to go to the media. I can speak to him."
Tottenham occupy eighth place in the Premier League table ahead of Saturday's meeting with leaders Manchester City - seven points adrift of Manchester United with three games in hand.
Ben Knapton
