‘Not the type to mope’ – Media praise mentality of on-loan Tottenham player

The print edition of L’Equipe (04/02/23 as relayed by Sport Witness) has praised Joe Rodon for not complaining when he was not selected and for winning back his place in Rennes’ starting lineup.

Rodon joined Rennes on a season-long loan deal last summer, with the Ligue 1 club having the option to make the deal permanent for £16.7m (TEAMtalk). While he was initially getting regular minutes under his belt, he fell out of favour under Bruno Genesio back in October.

Stade Rennais Online even suggested back in December that the centre-back’s loan spell at the club could be cut short prematurely in January as he had fallen behind Christopher Wooh and Arthur Theate in the pecking order.

It was explained that Rodon might return to Spurs and seek another loan move as he had no intention of warming the bench at the French club.

However, the 25-year-old came back into the starting eleven against Paris Saint-Germain three weeks ago and delivered a solid display to help the club pull off a famous 1-0 win.

Since then, the on-loan Tottenham man has been a regular in Rennes’ starting eleven and he has now earned praise for the character he has shown when he was out of the team.

L’Equipe state Rodon looked to be fourth in the pecking order back in December and the defender’s ‘horizon seemed blocked’ at the time.

However, the publication states that Wales international is ‘not the type to mope’ and praises the way he has forced himself back into Genesio’s plans.

Spurs Web Opinion

Rodon was never going to hit the ground running at Rennes as not only was he going to a new league and a new country but he was also going there on the back of hardly playing any football for two years at Spurs. So, it was only natural that he was going to take a few months to settle into the surroundings and play at his best.