Alasdair Gold has revealed that Tottenham would not have signed Djed Spence if Antonio Conte was not the manager.
In his latest video on his Youtube Channel, he suggested that the Spurs hierarchy saw the young Englishman as a player ‘tailored’ to fit Conte’s style of play that is very physically demanding of a wing-back. He said:
“Everyone I hear – three people have told me this – that he’s not a signing they would have made under previous managers. He very much is tailored towards ticking the boxes for Conte in a wing-back, which is height, pace, strength, fitness, and ability to take on players with the ball.”
Djed Spence became Spurs’ sixth signing of the summer in what has been a very busy transfer window for the North London club. And despite the claims that the management signed him because of Conte, the Italian manager publicly admitted that it was the management’s decision to sign Spence, not his. He said: “The club wanted to do it. I said okay, this player is young but he showed he can become a good, important player for us.”
Conte will have an interesting decision to make on whom he decides to play in the right-wing position having multiple options in Spence, Emerson Royal, Doherty, and Lucas Moura. Moura was interestingly played as a right wing-back in Spurs’ recent pre-season friendly and seemingly impressed Antonio Conte with his performance.