Conte is no mug and he won’t be short of offers. Levy must stump up for new signings or pay the price STAN COLLYMORE

IF Tottenham or Arsenal want to finish in the top four in May they must copy Aston Villa – and make a statement in this transfer window.

Villa’s owners have immediately trusted new manager Steven Gerrard in the market by signing Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona and Lucas Digne from Everton.

Spurs and Arsenal, on the other hand, seem to be dragging their heels.

And that’s not what Antonio Conte and Mikel Arteta need.

I don’t care how much Arsenal spent in the summer – because £120million wasn’t an inconsiderable amount – if the Gunners don’t back Arteta again this month, then it would tell me they still don’t fully trust him.

Spurs obviously trust Conte but, as ever, chairman Daniel Levy won’t release those purse strings easily.

Any dithering now will open the door to Villa, West Ham, Leeds and Everton, who all have money to spend.

In the years to come, the north London rivals may look back and wish they had made a statement or two this month if any of those rival clubs have gone past them.

Assurances

Spurs rather than Arsenal is the really fascinating one because, in Conte, they have one of the best and most relevant managers in the game.

He was obviously given assurances that they would back him when he arrived as Nuno Espirito Santo’s replacement in November.

But I saw a graphic last week which showed the kind of signings he is used to making – £30million here and £40m there – and I’m not sure the calibre of players Tottenham can attract is as good as he has been used to.

Inter Milan bought him Romelu Lukaku from Manchester United, and if you look at the Chelsea team there are several staples in Thomas Tuchel’s side recruited by Conte.

Adama Traore, from Wolves, is the kind of level he’s looking at right now and the winger is not exactly the offthe-peg, elite level signing Conte has typically bagged in recent years.

That said, he’d be a good signing for Spurs because he would cover a multitude of sins – including cover as a central striker.

A lot of you might say he’s only got blistering pace so he’s better out wide.

But I could see Conte working

Traore hard and getting 10 goals a season out of him.

With Harry Kane’s future hanging over the club like the Sword of Damocles, that would be a relief.

I’d be concerned there are already noises suggesting Conte is getting a bit frustrated at Spurs and the fact he has only signed an 18-month contract puts an interesting spin on things.

Cocky

Conte is no mug and, in the best possible way, he is confident and cocky enough and has the stock to be able to say at any time, ‘I’m not happy with this or that.

‘So I’ll leave because I know another big club will come for me’.

That would worry me a little and it’s why Levy should be doing everything he can to support him. If

There are already noises suggesting

Conte is getting a bit frustrated and the fact he has only signed an 18-month deal puts an interesting

spin on things

Conte leaves and says, ‘This club isn’t serious about pushing forward’ then, really, who else would think about joining Tottenham?

No one with a better pedigree than the Italian, that’s for sure.

So Spurs must give him the resources this month to get them into the top four – and then Levy must put down his poker cards and back him properly in the summer.

I’d want to work for Conte. I’d know I was going to be pushed hard in training, but I’d trust him and run through a brick wall for him because I’d know it would bring success.

There will be players out there thinking along the same lines.

But if Conte is to attract them, then Spurs have to back him to get those deals over the line.