Roberto De Zerbi has reacted to Djed Spence making it into England’s World Cup squad despite starting just once under him at Tottenham.
Given the season that Spurs have just had, most Tottenham fans did not expect any of their players to make it into the Three Lions squad for the World Cup.
However, Thomas Tuchel named Spence in his 26-man England squad, which was full of surprises, with several of his selections being debated intensely on social media.
Interestingly, Spence has not even been deemed part of Tottenham’s strongest eleven by De Zerbi, who has preferred Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie as his two starting full-backs.
Roberto De Zerbi is delighted that Tottenham star Djed Spence is going to the World Cup
The Tottenham boss has now shed light on his relationship with the 25-year-old off the pitch, admitting that he had met his family.
De Zerbi described Spence as a ‘big player’ and confessed that everyone at Spurs is delighted he is going to the World Cup.
When asked about the full-back making the England squad despite not starting regularly for Tottenham, De Zerbi told Football.London: “He is a great guy, I love Djed as a guy, after the game I spoke with his mum, outside of the stadium, his family, and I said the same, he has a big heart, he is a big player and a big guy, and all of us we are happy that he can go to play in the World Cup.”
De Zerbi insists Liam Delap should have been sent off on Tuesday
It emerged on Thursday that Spence had suffered a broken jaw against Chelsea after being caught by Liam Delap’s arm, with the striker controversially escaping with just a yellow card.
De Zerbi has confirmed that the Spurs full-back is available to face Everton, but he insisted that Chelsea should have been down to 10 men on Tuesday.
When asked about Spence’s availability on Sunday, the Italian said: “He is available, he is available, I think it was another situation, bad for us, because I think it was a red card for Delap, but we have to repeat, I have no time to lose, no energy to lose, thinking about the referees or other things, red card, yellow card, and we move on thinking just on the game.”
- READ MORE: ‘Cowards’ – Tottenham fans furious after Djed Spence injury following nasty Liam Delap elbow