Michael Dawson has stated that Emerson Royal has been disappointing since his move to Tottenham last summer.
Spurs completed the signing of Emerson from Barcelona on transfer deadline day, just months after the Catalonian club exercised the buy-back clause inserted when sending him to Real Betis in 2019.
Ronald Koeman’s side decided to make a profit by selling him to Spurs, with the two clubs agreeing on a fee of £25.8m plus £4.3m in add-ons for the 23-year-old (The Athletic).
Emerson has not set the world alight at Tottenham so far, with the Brazilian seemingly struggling to adapt to the demands of the right wing-back role in Antonio Conte’s system.
Conte praised the right-back’s performance following his side’s 3-1 win over Brighton earlier this month (Football London) but the Italian dropped the former Barca man from the starting eleven against Wolves in favour of Matt Doherty.
Dawson insisted that Emerson has not performed to the level he was expected to at Spurs so far.
The former Tottenham centre-back told Sky Sports News (1:20 pm, February 12, 2021) about the defender: “He has been disappointing since he has come is.
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“Is he a right-back like we saw him play under Nuno? Is he a wing-back? No, I don’t think he gets high enough for them.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Emerson is still adapting to the demands of the Premier League and certainly has age on his side.
However, I have my doubts over how much the Brazilian could improve his attacking output as he does not seem to have the ability to take players on.
So, while I do expect him to get better defensively, I do not think the 23-year-old will even offer enough offensively to play as a wing-back in Conte’s system.
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