Antonio Conte gives verdict on Arnaut Danjuma’s lack of minutes at Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte has apologised for Arnaut Danjuma’s lack of minutes this season.
The Netherlands international was signed on a six-month loan from Villarreal this January. It was an odd signing – one that mirrored the move we made for Clement Lenglet from Barcelona last summer.
It almost seems like a temporary solution – or a stop-gap signing until we get our real targets, whoever that may be. But what have we waited for? Antonio Conte’s contract is set to expire this summer.
Why are we then waiting with stop-gap signings until then? It could even drive him away from the team if he feels that the board isn’t backing him. His latest comments on Danjuma hint that he was not the player he wanted initially.
He said at his pre-match press conference before the league clash at home against AFC Bournemouth on Saturday (h/t Football.London):
“Yeah about Arnaut, for sure I am sorry. I am sorry for him because he arrived in the transfer market in January and the club wanted to sign on loan this player. For sure he has good characteristics, good quality and maybe he has not specific characteristics to be a number 10.
“Maybe he is more a second striker or a winger, but for sure I am appreciating a lot his desire, his will in every training (session). Against Milan, if we don’t have that red card to Romero, he was coming to try to play with a 4-2-4. I have to try to find always the best solution.”
Conte made a similar comment about Djed Spence this summer when we signed him from Middlesbrough. He explicitly stated that the English right-back, who was loaned to Stade Rennais in January, was a club signing – and not a player he recommended.
Conte’s point makes sense. Danjuma would have certainly found more playing time had he been in the team when Richarlison, Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski were injured.
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He will have to wait for his chance. Even if he was to come on against AC Milan in our 0-0 second-leg draw, which resulted in elimination on aggregate, it would have been for very little time considering Cristian Romero was sent off in the 77th minute.
He has a total of 47 minutes across four games for his new club.
