Saturday, October 1, 2022 at 12:59 PM• Mart Oude Nijeweeme • Last update: 13:05

Emerson Royal is determined to succeed at Tottenham Hotspur under Antonio Conte. The full-back who came over from Barcelona last year bought himself an oxygen room, hired a neuroscientist and had specific scouting reports made to improve himself. Total costs: more than one million euros. The Brazilian leaves nothing to chance.

Emerson was taken over from Barcelona for 25 million euros more than a year ago, but managed to make little impression on Conte in his first months. The Times even wrote in January that the defender would not appear in the plans of the Italian elector. The Brazilian then decided to invest in himself and seems to be paid back. This season, Emerson appears to be the undisputed number one at right-back with seven starting spots from seven Premier League games. He will also start against Arsenal on Saturday afternoon.

According to reports from The Sun Emerson went quite far in trying to invest in his own development. For example, his management, led by his father, hired a neuroscientist to manage the pressure of playing in the Premier League. He also purchased an oxygen chamber to maintain his fitness and requested scouting reports from Achraf Hakimi. The latter flourished under Conte at Internazionale, before moving to Paris Saint-Germain.

Emerson was already seen by Conte in 2021 as a replacement for Hakimi who left for PSG. At the time, however, the preference was for Denzel Dumfries. It is therefore not entirely coincidental that Emerson and Conte have now come to a collaboration. “Emerson has started the season well, I’m happy with him,” Conte said recently. “He has improved a lot from last season. Remember, Emerson has played everything so far this season. He has to keep working hard to continue this trend.”