Conte, who is currently in charge of Naples, revealed that Spence is not his signature and said, “Spence is a club investment. The club wanted to do that. The club decided to buy him.”
Under Conte’s management, Spence did not start a single Premier League match before being loaned out to French Side Rennes just five months later. Looking back at the awful comments from the Italian, Spence suggested it would help him drive away.
He states: “The biggest hurdle probably was when I signed Tottenham, I didn’t necessarily feel any immediate love with my manager and everything. I was in the club.
“When I went there, I was getting expensive and I almost came crashing because there were no comments from the manager or playing around.
“I’m busy, I’m going to sign Tottenham. So, to hear such comments, it shatters your confidence a bit. But you know, I’m a fighter.
“I’m not particularly saying I have a list or something, but I certainly have mental notes of people who doubt me, and it feels good to prove they’re wrong. Obviously, it wasn’t good, but I don’t put any energy on such specific things, but I just focus and do what I need to do.
Spence didn’t play the best football on loan at Rennes, Middlesbrough, Leeds United and Genoa, but he played a big role under Ange Postecoglou. He began all but two of the campaign’s final 15 Premier League matches.
Under Thomas Frank, he played all the minutes available for the Spurs, including a narrow penalty shootout defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Super Cup. Spence hopes to play an equally important role in the England’s World Cup qualifying clash with Andorra and Serbia.
