Tottenham star says Antonio Conte has never lost confidence in him

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Tottenham defender Emerson Royal says Antonio Conte has never lost faith in his abilities throughout their time together.

24-year-old Royal has had his critics across his entire Spurs career, and Pedro Porro was signed last month to battle for that right wing-back spot.

But Royal told the Daily Mail he has never lost his manager’s faith, and whenever he makes mistakes, he gets honest feedback and they move on.

He also said that the recent game against Manchester City saw him put him his best performance for the club, keeping Jack Grealish quiet.

Emerson Royal says Antonio Conte has never lost faith in him at Tottenham

He said: “I believe Conte never lost confidence in me. We have been talking a lot since the beginning of the season.

“I made a mistake in a game, against Sporting if I’m not mistaken, and he talked to me. He told me to keep doing my job and that he trusted me.

“We have a very good relationship. He wants to help all the players. He’s here to teach and I’m here to learn. I try to extract as much as I can from his knowledge and he charges me a lot as his athlete.

“Maybe my best game in a Tottenham shirt; a game when I was able to keep my concentration and win most of my duels with Jack Grealish.”

Many Spurs fans would no doubt want to see Porro get the nod at right wing-back more often than not, but he had a torrid first Premier League start against Leicester last weekend.

The Spaniard seemed more focused on the attacking side of the game, and he will need to work on his defensive capabilities under Conte.

Royal also needs to keep improving in all areas of his game, to even make the standard as backup for what Conte really wants, but it is clear the Italian has huge faith in the Brazilian.