Antonio Conte believes that if Tottenham are to be ambitious and competitive they must have two players in every role and that includes up front with Harry Kane.
Spurs have struggled for years in the transfer market to find a new striker to either partner Kane or come in for him when he is injured or rested.
Vincent Janssen, Fernando Llorente and Carlos Vinicius have all been signed since the England captain broke into the Tottenham line-up but have had differing levels of success.
Spurs are looking to sign a new striker this month, along with another right wing-back and central midfielder, and Conte believes that it is imperative that the club has two players competing in every position.
"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," he said.
"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."
With that in mind though, Conte was asked whether it was difficult to find another striker to sign that is close to Kane's level.
"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 said.
"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."
