Conte admits he asked injured Spurs star to play a part against Arsenal before postponement

Antonio Conte has admitted that despite Steven Bergwijn not being 100 per cent, he asked the winger to be on the bench for the North London derby.

Tottenham were without several of their key first-team players for the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Chelsea on Wednesday, with Eric Dier, Son Heung-min, Sergio Reguilon, Cristian Romero and Steven Bergwijn all missing out.

In addition, reports indicate that one Tottenham first-team player tested positive for Covid-19 this week and that the club were unsure about his availability for Sunday.

Given the injuries and unavailabilities that Spurs are dealing with and the lack of forward options at his disposal, Conte admitted that he asked Bergwijn to be on the bench against Arsenal. Of course, the match ended up being postponed anyway.

Sources indicate that Bergwijn is expected to leave Tottenham before the transfer window shuts but the Spurs boss has insisted that he sees the former PSV Eindhoven man as an ‘important option’.

Conte said in his pre-match press conference (via Football.London): “Steven Bergwijn, for example, is a player that has recovered from his injury. He had two training sessions with us.

“For sure he is not 100 per cent fit in this moment, but I needed him to come on the bench, to stay with us.

“I asked him his availability for the game against Arsenal, because for me he’s an important option after Son was injured.

“In this moment we have only two strikers, Harry and Lucas, and then there is Bergwijn, and then also there is Scarlett, he is also recovering from an injury.”

Spurs Web Opinion

I am quite surprised by reports that Tottenham are willing to cash in on Bergwijn. Given the lack of options Conte has upfront, one would have thought that he would want to hang on to the 24-year-old at least until the end of the season even if the club bring in another attacking addition this month.

Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Related Topics

Have something to tell us about this article? Let us know