Ever since Antonio Conte's arrival at Tottenham Hotspur back in November of last year, the future of Steven Bergwijn has been a subject of much discussion.

Indeed, under the management of the 52-year-old head coach, the winger has played just 249 minutes of football - with numerous reports suggesting that the Netherlands international looked set to leave the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium during the January transfer window.

However, after Spurs rejected a £15m offer for the 24-year-old from Eredivisie giants Ajax, as well as Conte stating that Bergwijn is an "important" part of his first-team plans, the £25m-rated remained a Tottenham player upon the passing of the transfer deadline on January 31.

But, with Heung-min Son, Lucas Moura and Harry Kane very much being the Italian's first-choice front three, on top of the recent arrival of Dejan Kulusevski, exactly where the winger fits into Conte's setup is up for debate - although, with right wing-back having been something of a problem area for Spurs of late, perhaps the flying Dutchman could provide the answer.

Conte's new Hakimi

With neither Matt Doherty nor Emerson Royal having done much to convince Conte that they should be the first choice in the position, there would appear to be little to lose for the Italian in awarding the player, who football.london reporter Alasdair Gold once dubbed "incredible", a shot on the right of his back five.

Indeed, while it is true that playing an attack-minded player in what is fundamentally a defensive position would appear to further weaken an already shaky Tottenham backline, considering the fact that Spurs conceded three at home to Southampton with Emerson on the right and two at home against Wolves with Doherty in the position, it would be difficult for the 24-year-old to do a worse job at the back than the struggling defensive duo.

Furthermore, when taking into account the added attacking threat the £73k-per-week forward would bring to the Spurs side, it would very much appear that the positives outweigh the negatives for giving Bergwijn a run out at right wing-back.

And, considering how successful Conte's Scudetto-winning Inter Milan side were when playing an extremely attack-minded full-back on the right in Achraf Hakimi last season, should the Italian coach take a chance on the Dutchman, who Gold also claimed does the "dirty work" for Tottenham, he could very well unearth his new Hakimi in North London.

Indeed, over his 37 Serie A appearances last season, the £100m-rated defender was one of Conte's most influential players, scoring seven goals, registering eight assists and creating nine big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.1 shots and making one key pass per game.

These returns saw Hakimi earn an extremely impressive seasonal SofaScore match rating of 7.05, ranking him as Inter's eighth-best player in their title-winning campaign last time out.

As such, with Conte having already experienced a great deal of success when fielding a more attack-minded than a defensively-focused player on the right of his back five, it would indeed appear well worth the risk of fielding Bergwijn in the role - as the potential rewards could prove to be revolutionary for Spurs' season.

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