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 undoubtedly prefer to see Porro start at right wing-back more frequently, but he struggled in his first Premier League start against Leicester last weekend.
The Spaniard appeared to be more focused on the offensive side of the game, and he will need to improve his defensive abilities under Conte.
Royal must continue to improve in all areas of his game to even be considered as a backup for what Conte truly desires, but it is clear that the Italian has a lot of faith in the Brazilian.
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