Earlier this week, Peter Crouch intimated that Djed Spence wasn’t completely trusted at Tottenham Hotspur.
The BT Sport pundit suggested that despite only signing the 22-year-old during the summer transfer window, Spurs manager Antonio Conte wasn’t entirely convinced by the player yet.
And who can blame Crouch for such an assumption?
After all, Spence has only managed one senior appearance for the Lilywhites since a £19 million transfer from Middlesbrough [ESPN] – and even that was literally for a matter of seconds away to Nottingham Forest.
There’s a lot for the former Boro star to do to convince his Italian manager that he can be trusted, but he might just be about to earn a rare opportunity to impress.
The North Londoners have a difficult visit away to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday evening and with Spence being a right-back, and Emerson Royal being suspended, well there is a potential for a Premier League debut – a proper one.
Of course, Conte also has Matt Doherty as an option, but the Tottenham boss made headlines earlier this week for suggesting that he didn’t rate the Republic of Ireland international all that highly [The Mirror].
And with that in mind, it does seem plausible that Spence comes into the starting lineup.
What he does from there, however, is entirely up to him.
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