Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur side head into Saturday’s clash against table-topping Manchester City in something of a slump in form, having lost their last three outings in the Premier League.

And, considering the fact that Spurs have shipped seven goals over these three fixtures – two against Chelsea, three against Southampton and two against Wolverhampton Wanderers – it is clear that defence is an area in which the Italian’s outfit requires much improvement.

Indeed, Davinson Sanchez has been extremely poor in his last three starts on the right of Conte’s back three, with the Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick awarding the 25-year-old a rating of 5/10 for his performance against the Blues, as well as a four in both the Saints and Wolves defeats, before the journalist questioned: “What has Joe Rodon got to do to get a chance?”

This is something that Conte almost immediately addressed, with the 52-year-old suggesting that he could have made a mistake in leaving the Wales international out against Wolves, stating in his post-match comments: “With Joe, we are talking about a really good guy. We are talking about a person whose commitment is very high every day. But, in this moment, maybe I make a mistake [picking] different players.”

And, considering the skillset of the 24-year-old centre-back – who is comfortable operating in any of the positions in a three-man defence, as well as boasting an impressive range of passing – Rodon would very much appear to be a perfect fit for the Italian’s style of play – something which makes it even more surprising that the defender has been overlooked this season.

Conte’s next Bastoni

Conte has proven before that, when he places his trust in an up and coming defender, they can go on to achieve great things together – with no better example being Alessandro Bastoni at Inter Milan.

Indeed, despite having joined the Nerazzurri from Atalanta back in January of 2017, it wasn’t until Conte’s 2019 arrival at San Siro that the 22-year-old was handed a senior appearance.

And, from that point, the defender went on to establish himself as a first-team regular under the 52-year-old coach – earning plaudits for his vision, versatility and range of passing, as well as seeing his Transfermarkt valuation climb from £20.7m at the time of Conte’s arrival to £54m today and earning nine caps for the Italian national side.

As such, with the £12.5m-rated Rodon boasting a similar skill set to that of Italian, it would appear extremely advisable for Conte to finally unleash the player who journalist Ian Mitchelmore dubbed a “flawless” and “special” talent, as, with a bit of patience, the Spurs boss could very well unearth his next Bastoni in the shape of the 24-year-old Welshman.

In other news: Conte can land £100k-p/w ace’s heir with Spurs swoop for “extraordinary” £93k-p/w gem