The lack of chances afforded to Yves Bissouma under Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte is a source of confusion to former Premier League defender Andy Townsend, speaking to talkSPORT (20 March, 5.20pm).
With Kaoru Mitoma, Evan Ferguson, Roberto de Zerbi and more likely to be offered opportunities away from Brighton and Hove Albion this summer, if recent months should have taught them anything, it’s that grass is not always greener elsewhere.
He’ll never admit it, of course, but Graham Potter could be forgiving for wishing he could roll back the clock; his Chelsea side three places and four points worse off than De Zerbi’s brilliant Brighton outfit.
Bissouma, meanwhile, has gone from one of the division’s most coveted midfielders to the forgotten man of North London. The £25 million signing has started only eight top-flight games under Conte. Even before he was consigned to the sidelines with an ankle fracture, Bissouma had just played 30 minutes of football in his four most recent Premier League matches.
Yves Bissouma has struggled after leaving Brighton for Tottenham
“I’ve been amazed at not seeing much of Bissouma,” says former Chelsea defender Townsend.
“Someone like Antonio Conte, he has a method. He has a tried and tested way that he will feel is successful. He has got the CV to prove that. And it’s like; ‘You lot have to toe my line. You lot have to sing to the tune that I want’. And that doesn’t always include improving players.”
Bissouma, of course, may have been handed a rare run of games in the Spurs midfield if he had not suffered an injury at the same time as Rodrigo Bentancur’s season-ending ACL rupture. Oliver Skipp has instead seized the opportunity that might have fallen into the Malian’s lap; Spurs’ academy graduate a rare ray of light cutting through the dark clouds hanging above the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
According to The Telegraph, Conte’s departure could be confirmed by Spurs as early as this week. That hair-raising rant following Saturday’s Southampton capitulation the final straw for embattled chairman Daniel Levy.
Conte’s exit would, at least, potentially offer Bissouma a fresh start and the chance to rebuild his once-glittering reputation.
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