Alasdair Gold recalls what happened behind the scenes with Conte and Djed Spence deal
Football.London’s Alasdair Gold has revealed that Antonio Conte’s suggestion last summer that Djed Spence was a ‘club signing’ might have caused some confusion at Tottenham since the Italian gave the green light for the right-back to be signed.
Soon after Spurs paid £20m including add-ons to snap up Spence from Middlesbrough last summer, Conte declared that the right-back was “an investment of the club” and added that “the club wanted to do it” (talkSPORT).
Gold has now explained that it was indeed Fabio Paratici who spearheaded Tottenham’s pursuit of the 22-year-old, having travelled to the City Ground to watch the player in action several times last season.
The Spurs managing director is said to have felt that Spence ticked all the boxes to be a Conte wing-back and the Spurs boss is thought to have given the green light for the transfer.
In fact, Gold adds that the 53-year-old even played his part in convincing the England Under-21 international to come to Hotspur Way, with the right-back rejecting several other Premier League clubs in favour of joining Tottenham.
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I found Conte’s refusal to hand Spence even a single start, quite astounding. Perhaps, we can give the Italian the benefit of the doubt and put it down to purely footballing reasons.
However, from the outside, it certainly seemed like a battle for power between Conte and Paratici, with the Spurs head coach clearly sending out a message to the club that he will only use players that he himself recommended.
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