Italy coach Luciano Spalletti was pleased with Destiny Udogie’s full debut as Tottenham Hotspur’s Premier League newcomer caught the eye against England at Wembley.
While a yellow card picked up with just ten minutes on the clock certainly didn’t help Destiny Udogie as the Tottenham left-back looked to put his stamp on proceedings, the youngster deserves credit for the way he re-focused himself and went about his business with typical bustling enthusiasm, despite a caution hanging over his head.
Udogie almost gave Italy a 2-1 lead on the stroke of half-time too. Denied a goal on his first Azzurri start by the reflexes of Jordan Pickford after a trademark marauding run into the penalty area.
Destiny Udogie now shining for Italy and Tottenham
“Udogie played the match he had to play, which I expected,” former Napoli, Inter Milan and Roma coach Spalletti tells Tuttomercatoweb.
“He must be a little more switched-on because then he showed that he has some good qualities. He was limited a bit by the yellow card. And, to avoid risks, I replaced him in the second half.”
Udogie lasted 63 minutes on his maiden Italy start. There’s more where that came from too, usual first-choice Leonardo Spinazzola the wrong side of 30 these days.
If Udogie is the future of Tottenham, meanwhile, it was a Spurs star of the recent past who stole the show, Harry Kane scoring twice – including one supreme solo goal – as England triumphed 3-1 while securing their seat on the plane to Germany for next summer’s European Championships.
‘I am happy’
“(The result is) a shame,” Udogie tells Rai Sport. “Because we were there in terms of performance. We just lacked a bit of malice in front of goal.
“As individuals we are strong, we have to be more convinced (in our qualities) and go and compete with everyone.
“I am happy with how I helped the team. It’s a shame about the result.”
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