By Daniel Feliciano

20th Jul, 2022 | 9:10am

Antonio Conte admits it wasn't his choice to sign Djed Spence for Tottenham

Antonio Conte has admitted that it wasn’t his choice to sign Djed Spence, but the Tottenham board wanted to sign him as an investment.

Spence became the club’s sixth summer signing after joining from Middlesbrough in a deal worth an initial £12.5m rising up to £20m following his brilliant loan spell at Nottingham Forest last season.

But while the 21-year-old impressed en route to helping them earn promotion, Conte has admitted that the player wasn’t one he asked for although he did okay the deal when the board told him about their plans.

“Spence is an investment of the club,” he said, as quoted by the Daily Mail.

“The club wanted to do it. I said, ‘OK, this player is young but he showed he can become a good, important player for us’. The club decided to buy him.”

Uh oh

It’s never a good look when a manager openly admits that he wasn’t particularly interested in signing a player that he now has as part of his squad.

Spence has joined as one of the brightest talents in the country in his position, but the manager was clearly already happy with his current options and that means Spence will find it difficult to break into the team.

Matt Doherty and Emerson Royal played plenty last season and their performances improved towards the end of the campaign, while both are experienced and have played at the highest level before.

It seems that the 21-year-old will have a tough time trying to get regular minutes in the first-team now, and it begs the question if he knew that he wasn’t the manager’s choice when he signed.

If he did then he clearly backs himself, but if he didn’t it makes you wonder if he would’ve gone elsewhere instead to ensure his development continues.

In other Tottenham news, Darren Ambrose has praised the club’s business after wrapping up a £20m deal for Spence