Former Hull City defender Alex Bruce is excited by the emergence of Japhet Tanganga and believes that the youngster can establish himself in Jose Mourinho’s first team next season.
With Jan Vertonghen (Football Insider), Kyle Walker-Peters (Sky Sports), and Danny Rose (Football.London) all expected to leave Tottenham in the summer, the club could need new reinforcements to bolster the backline ahead of the new campaign.
Spurs have been linked with big-name defenders including RB Leipzig’s Daymot Upamecano (Metro) but Tanganga has proven already during his brief stint with the first-team that he is versatile and capable of doing a job across the backline.
The 21-year-old featured regularly in the starting line up for Tottenham since breaking into the team in January until the season was suspended back in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Bruce believes that Tanganga could be the next academy product to shine for the Spurs first-team and backed the defender to save the club a considerable amount of funds in the transfer market this summer.
Speaking about Tanganga’s emergence, the pundit told Football Insider: “There’s nothing better as a supporter and as a lover of football than to see a young lad come through and do well.
“If they get given the opportunity you want them to do well and it would be nice to see the lad go into the team and I’m sure all Tottenham supporters would probably agree with me, there’s nothing better than to see come through the ranks.
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“They’ve had it before with good players in the past, we just have to watch this space. It would obviously save them a few quid if he does come in because they won’t have to dive into the transfer market.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I expect Tanganga to be primarily used as a centre-back next season once he gets some experience under his belt. The youngster certainly looks to have all the attributes to succeed but it is important for us not to get carried away and put too much pressure on him.
He is going to make a few mistakes as any young defender would in the next year or two, and we as fans must not build him up just to knock him down when he does make errors. The important thing is that he is prepared to learn and keep improving.
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