A player who is often overlooked in discussions of upcoming and promising full-backs is the Spurs academy graduate and now Southampton star, Kyle Walker Peters.
Prior to joining Southampton on loan in Jan 2020, Kyle had played for the English Under-18s and Under-21s, as well as making 24 first team appearances for Tottenham.
He also a played a crucial role in Spurs’ run to their first Champions League final providing multiple crucial tackles, the most notable one being his brilliant block against Barcelona, denying Phillipe Coutinho at 1-0.
This begs the question, is Kyle Walker Peters actually a promising upcoming talent who has the potential for making it to the Euros this year? And if so, did Spurs make a mistake by selling him?
The reasons behind this, in my opinion, are threefold.
Firstly, analysts, pundits and fans often tend to refer to stats to make judgements and comparisons and in the case of Walker-Peters, the stats do not paint the full picture.
Despite having provided only one assist so far this season, he has definitely proven his worth, becoming an instrumental player of the Saints with eight clean sheets and a tackle success rate of 74%.
MORE SPURS STORIES
Moreover, his calm, effortless possession and overlapping runs off the ball, have often shown experience far exceeding his years and experience.
Secondly, he was always in the shadow of players such as Kieran Trippier and Danny Rose while playing for Spurs, meaning that his talent was never given a true opportunity to flourish on a regular basis. Certainly not to the extent it is at Southampton.
Finally, he is not a loud player and continues to excel in silence, putting in solid shifts game in and game out, playing his way out of tough situations and providing crucial support to his midfield teammates at Southampton.
In times like this, with Spurs struggling in defence, it brings up the crucial question of whether Walker-Peters would now be an upgrade on Serge Aurier and Matt Doherty.
In my opinion, Spurs should not have let go of Kyle Walker-Peters. Despite, Mourinho bringing in Doherty, he has failed to impress and Aurier seems to be the only plausible, yet erratic, alternative.
Moreover, Kyle could play as a wing-back on both flanks and would prove extremely crucial in times like this with Reguilon being injured and Ben Davies not being able to successfully fill in the gap.
I hope that Spurs do not come to dramatically regret their decision in the years to come.
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
