Antonio Conte makes intriguing claim about Steven Bergwijn, suggests he wants to keep him at Spurs

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Antonio Conte has told his pre-Chelsea press conference on Tuesday – as per Football London – that Tottenham do not have another player like Steven Bergwijn. The Dutch ace is the subject of interest from Newcastle and Ajax.

Bergwijn, 24, has failed to play a regular part for Tottenham since the arrival of Conte as manager. Little niggles have led to a stop-start spell under the Italian gaffer. He has missed the last four games with a calf issue.

But when fit, Conte did use the ex-PSV man – bringing him on as a substitute in three Premier League games. He also started Bergwijn in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals win over West Ham – scoring one, and creating another.

Sky Sports report that Tottenham have rejected a £15million offer for Bergwijn from Ajax, with talks ongoing. 90Min say Newcastle want him on loan. But Conte suggests that Tottenham might be better off keeping him.

“He knows very well what I think about him. I consider him a player that can play all the three roles, as a number 9 and number 10. In my period at Tottenham, he was injured for a long time.

“I showed him that when he is fit I gave him a chance. He is very close to coming back. He is a player with different characteristics than Harry, Son and Moura, he is a player we don’t have in our squad.”

Conte on Bergwijn: Tottenham boss to keep out-of-favour star?

Realistically, Tottenham will not want to loan Bergwijn out. He is more useful to the North Londoners by providing cover for Harry Kane, Lucas Moura and Son Heung-min – especially with the latter currently injured.

So, unless the asking price is met, Bergwijn does not look as if he is going anywhere. Tottenham will hardly want to make a loss on the attacker, meaning they will be looking for a fee close to his £27million outlay.

But Conte is seemingly a believer in the Netherlands international. He is confident he is yet to see the best of Bergwijn, due to injury. To say Spurs have no-one like Bergwijn suggests that he wants to keep him.