Senior Tottenham players fail in bid to hand underused star lifeline, as Conte ignores pleas

Senior players at Tottenham have been pushing manager Antonio Conte to play Joe Rodon in defence in recent weeks, according to a report.

Rodon arrived in north London in October 2020 from Swansea as a trademark Spurs signing – a fairly cheap young talent who can develop into a first-team star worth a lot more.

However, his time at Spurs has not worked out as hoped so far. In fact, he has only played 22 times in all competitions. While he has started 14 of those matches, only eight starts have come in the Premier League.

Talk of his underuse at Tottenham has gained traction in recent weeks following Spurs’ defensive struggles. Indeed, a catalogue of errors saw them lose 2-0 to Wolves on Sunday for a third top-flight defeat in a row.

Conte therefore admitted that he may have made a “mistake” by not playing Rodon instead.

The Wales international’s last appearance came off the bench in the 3-1 FA Cup win over Brighton. According to Football London, though, some senior Spurs players have been pushing Conte to play Rodon more in recent weeks.

They have reiterated to the manager that the centre-back can play anywhere across the back line in the 3-5-2 system. Indeed, he played as a left-sided centre-back at Swansea.

The players’ calls for Rodon have grown louder following Eric Dier’s injury.

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The England international has only played once in eight games because of a thigh problem.

Nevertheless, Dier could return for Saturday’s crunch Premier League clash away at Manchester City.

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If he does, Rodon’s chances of playing would become fewer again.

Conte continues to play Davinson Sanchez at the back, but Jermaine Jenas claimed that the Colombia international had a “shocking” game against Wolves.

Rodon part of Conte’s Tottenham defensive puzzle

When Dier returns from injury, he and summer signing Cristian Romero will be the senior centre-backs at Spurs.

Conte in fact talked up Romero, who former Spurs boss Nuno Espirito Santo signed in the summer, as “perfect for the Premier League”.

However, defence is one area Conte did not tackle in the January transfer window. He signed midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur and attacker-cum-wing-back Dejan Kulusevski.

But talk is growing of a potential move for centre-back Stefan de Vrij, who the manager worked with at Inter.

Any new signing at the heart of defence would add further questions over Rodon’s future and chances of stamping his mark at Spurs.