According to a report by The Athletic, Jose Mourinho stopped Japhet Tanganga from completing a loan move away from Tottenham Hotspur on transfer deadline day despite multiple clubs expressing interest in the Spurs man.
Injury problems have prevented Tanganga from building on his impressive breakthrough season, with the defender yet to make a single Premier League appearance for the club this campaign.
It was reported on Monday that West Bromwich Albion and Southampton were both interested in taking the 21-year-old on loan until the end of the season but the Spurs academy graduate ended up remaining in North London.
The Athletic claim that along with Baggies and the Saints, Celtic also showed interest in taking Tanganga north of the border.
However, it is claimedthat Mourinho did not want to allow the young defender to leave.
The report also backs up previous claims that it was Spurs chairman Daniel Levy who blocked Dele Alli’s loan move to Paris Saint-Germain since he was not able to bring in a replacement for the midfielder.
Spurs Web Opinion
There are multiple players ahead of Tanganga in the pecking order at right-back, centre-back and left-back at Spurs. So the youngster might have benefited from getting regular game time on loan. However, given Tottenham’s frailties in central defence over recent weeks and Mourinho’s tendency to play three at the back, it is understandable why the Spurs boss decided to hang on to the 21-year-old as a precaution.
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