Tottenham Hotspur: Dan Kilpatrick claims Antonio Conte has distanced himself from Djed Spence transfer

Journalist Dan Kilpatrick has claimed that Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte has distanced himself already from the signing of Djed Spence. 

Spurs recently signed the defender from Middlesbrough on five-year contract for a fee that could eventually rise to £20m with add-ons.

After the deal was announced, the club’s Italian boss offered his verdict on the move, with Charlie Eccleshare quoting him as saying: “Spence is an investment of the club. I said ok, this player is young but showed he can become a good, important player for us. The club decided to buy him.”

In light of this claim, where Conte makes clear that it was ‘the club’ who made the signing – and not him – Kilpatrick came to his own conclusions on the matter.

He took to Twitter to say:  “Interesting quotes from Conte – and reminiscent of Pochettino distancing himself from Clarke & Mourinho from Rodon.

“But policy of targeting young FL players has largely been successful & I think Spence will play a bigger part than either Clarke or Rodon (so far).”

TIF thoughts on Djed Spence and Spurs…

Kilpatrick alludes to past transfers involving Jack Clarke and Joe Rodon, and considering those deals didn’t turn out so great for either player or club, supporters could fear a similar situation befalling Spence.

Indeed, Clarke has just been sold to Sunderland, after making only four senior appearances for Tottenham. While Rodon is supposedly very keen on also leaving the club this summer having struggled to make an impact in north London too.

However, having now splashed about £20m on Spence, Spurs will hope to get plenty out of Spence. And, although Conte may have distanced himself from the transfer process, he did say that the defender could become a ‘good, important player’ – which suggests he will do his best to integrate him into the team.