Republic of Ireland manager gives insight into Matt Doherty’s Spurs struggle

Stephen Kenny, the Republic of Ireland manager has backed Matt Doherty to find his best form at Tottenham Hotspur in the coming season after a difficult first year.

The right-back joined from Wolves last summer while Jose Mourinho was in charge for £14.7m after playing a key part of Wolves’ rise since 2010.

He was part of the club’s Championship promotion campaign under Nuno Espírito Santo and transitioned into the Premier League with two back-to-back Europa League qualifications.

Doherty made 302 appearances for Wolves in a wide range of competitions such as the Championship, League One, and even the Europa League, but he decided to switch things up last summer and make the move to North London.

However, Doherty struggled in his first campaign for Tottenham, making 29 appearances in all competitions but failing to impress or cement a consistent first-team place ahead of Serge Aurier.

talkSPORT reported last week that Tottenham will listen to offers for Matt Doherty, Eric Dier and Davinson Sanchez this summer.

Kenny, Doherty’s manager at international level, has given an insight into Doherty’s struggles: “They (Spurs) were top of the league for a while and he got Covid in the (Ireland) camp which was a kick in the teeth for him. It really knocked him.

“It takes a while to get back from it sometimes and he lost his place.

“People say Matt has been poor but he has been in the team, was playing, and lost his place because of Covid.

“So that was tough for him. Sometimes, when you go from one club to another there’s a settling-in period, the club didn’t have a successful season, probably and went out of Europe.

“But it wasn’t all negative, there were times when he was picked in the European team of the week, he got the highest number of assists in the Europa Cup some weeks.

“I am sure he has a manager now… you can never tell but on the face of it you’d think it was a good move.”

SpursWeb Opinion

Paratici wants to ship out deadwood and if Doherty was to be sold, it would be slightly disappointing as, under Nuno – Doherty could recapture his best form. It is also interesting how Kenny suggests that getting COVID-19 affected his form.

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