Antonio Conte has revealed that Djed Spence needs more time to get accustomed to Tottenham’s style of play since he was the last of the six signings to arrive through the door this summer.
Spence did not make the matchday squad for Tottenham’s clashes against Chelsea and Wolves but the youngster was named on the bench for the North Londoners’ trip to the City Ground this week.
The 22-year-old came on for his Spurs debut against the club he played for last season, replacing Rodrigo Bentancur in stoppage time.
On Saturday, Conte praised Spence for his attitude and hard work in training since arriving at the club (Football.London).
The Spurs boss has now described the right-back as a “really good prospect” but admitted that he needs to be patient and continue to work hard for chances at Spurs.
Conte said (Sky Sports via Football Daily): “Djed is a young player and he was the last player to sign for us. For sure, he needs to work with us to implement the football knowledge with us, to go into our idea of football.
“Don’t forget that already we have Emerson then Doherty who is recovering very well from the injury. But we are talking about a good guy [Djed], a young player with a really good prospect and he needs to work and have patience.”
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I do not think we should read too much into the fact that Spence operated as a forward rather than as a right-wing-back when he came on for the final few minutes against Forest on Sunday.
Conte made it clear in the above interview that Doherty and Emerson are ahead of the 21-year-old in the pecking order at the moment. However, I believe that the former Boro man will establish himself as the Italian’s first choice at right wing-back before the end of the season.
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