£15m Tottenham man has plenty to prove to new boss Ange Postecoglou after disastrous summer
New Tottenham Hotspur defender Destiny Udogie has plenty to prove to new manager Ange Postecoglou.
Udogie was signed by Tottenham for £15m last summer but stayed at Udinese on loan for another 12 months.
Spurs signed him off the back of a brilliant 2021/22 season where he broke into Udinese’s starting line-up.
He was a creative force on the left-hand side, scoring five goals and providing three assists from a left wing-back position.
Destiny Udogie wasn’t as productive in the last campaign, but still managed to score three goals and lay on four more assists.
Antonio Conte’s staff were really excited about Udogie joining up with the Spurs squad for the upcoming season.
However, many of them have now left and Udogie now has to impress Ange Postecoglou and his new team of coaches at Tottenham.
Unfortunately, his preparations this summer have been far from ideal.
He’ll need to hit the ground running in a system that may not suit his strongest attributes.
Udogie has to impress Postecoglou at Tottenham
Like Oliver Skipp, Udogie was called up by his national team to play in this summer’s Under-21 European Championships.
Skipp didn’t play a huge role for England but came off the bench to help them win yesterday’s final.
Udogie’s Italy team fared much worse, crashing out in the group stages after defeats to France and Norway.
Even worse for Udogie, he only featured in the first match of their three-game campaign.
He was at fault for France’s last-minute as he failed to clear the ball in his own box.
The 20-year-old was replaced by Fabiano Parisi for the rest of the campaign and he scored in their win against Switzerland.
Udogie wasn’t even used off the bench and will need to do better when he joins up with Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham.
He’s only ever played as a wing-back and so he’s going to have to adapt quickly to playing as a more traditional full-back.
There’s been a suggestion he might return to pre-season early to meet up with his new teammates.
He’s been backed to thrive in the Premier League, but only time will tell if a player signed specifically for Antonio Conte can thrive under Ange Postecoglou.
