Exclusive: Fabrizio Romano clears up Antonio Conte’s comments on Djed Spence transfer

Posted by

Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Antonio Conte was not the driving force behind Tottenham’s transfer move for Djed Spence this summer.

The young full-back was recently confirmed as a new signing for Spurs, joining from Middlesbrough after really catching the eye on loan at Nottingham Forest last season.

Conte recently commented on the Spence deal, raising one or two eyebrows by admitting that the 21-year-old was a signing pushed more by the Spurs board than by himself.

Still, writing in his latest exclusive CaughtOffside column, Romano made it clear that this is not particularly unusual, and that this was not one of the reasons for the deal seeming to drag on for a while.

Tottenham recently signed Djed Spence from Middlesbrough

“Antonio Conte told the truth about the Djed Spence deal,” Romano explained. “Spence is not a player asked by Conte himself, but I’m not sure why this grabbed so many headlines! This is also what happened for example with Ivan Perisic, Yves Bissouma and Richarlison.

“The club wanted to invest in Djed considering him a huge talent and then Conte approved the deal. The negotiation was conducted by the president Daniel Levy, of course with Fabio Paratici always there.

“Tottenham several times in the past have chosen to invest in young talents that the club believed in regardless.

“In any case, that’s not why the deal took so long and faced delays. This was for reasons related to his contract, which were eventually resolved.”

Whether or not Conte chose to sign Spence, Tottenham fans will now just hope that the young defender can continue his remarkable progress and play a key role for the club in the season ahead.

More Stories Antonio Conte Djed Spence Fabrizio Romano