Alasdair Gold has been speaking on his YouTube channel about what Tottenham Hotspur’s scouting team thought about summer signing Djed Spence.
In what turned out to be Tottenham’s penultimate piece of business in the summer transfer window, Spence was brought in as competition to the likes of Emerson Royal and Matt Doherty.
However, it certainly hasn’t been a great start for the wing-back, with his manager claiming to the press that he was a signing made by the club rather than himself – which won’t have filled him with much confidence – while he’s also been left out of three matchday squads thus far.
Despite those early setbacks, Gold is convinced that Spurs think Spence ticks all the boxes to be a successful Conte wing-back.
He revealed: “Spence obviously is one who the club feel will fit both Conte and the club. And Conte has made it very clear that the club wanted Djed Spence, and I was told this very clearly… Spence wasn’t a player that Spurs would have bought under any different manager, he just ticks every box that Conte wants in a wing-back.
Will Djed Spence be a success at Spurs?
Yes!
No!
“So I just feel – and I will maintain this until I’m proved otherwise – when Spence gets his chance, he will take it. He’ll be so ready and prepared for it, that I think he will take it. And like I say, I just feel his skill set ticks every box Conte wants.”
TIF Thoughts on Spence’s Spurs situation…
At the time, it appeared a no-brainer that Spence would be snapped up and utilised by Conte and Spurs given how well he flourished at Nottingham Forest last season in a wing-back role, however, things couldn’t have played out more differently.
Having been excluded from several matchday squads and publicly called out as an arrival his manager did not sign off, it’s certainly put Spence firmly down the pecking order at Tottenham.
However, this may well be what the defender needed to help fuel him up for what will be a long season with Spurs fighting on four fronts, and there are plenty in his position he can learn from and transform into the player Conte hopes he can become.