You can only commend Mauricio Pochettino for the bravery he’s shown in exiling players whose commitment to the Tottenham cause can be brought into question.
After rumours of Kyle Walker’s intentions to leave first emerged towards the end of the 2016/17 season, the England international suddenly found himself benched for a late north London derby, the final match at White Hart Lane against Manchester United and the FA Cup semi-final clash with Chelsea.
It may have cost Tottenham on two of those occasions, but the message was clear – in the eyes of the Spurs boss, faith in the club’s long-term goals is as important as talent.
It was exactly the same case last season with Toby Alderweireld and Danny Rose. As the former’s contract saga rumbled on, Davinson Sanchez became Jan Vertonghen’s primary centre-back partner and Pochettino even switched to a four-man defence to ensure he’d never need to rely on the Belgium international starting barring injuries.
The latter, meanwhile, suffered a similar price for that ill-advised interview with The Sun in the wake of Walker’s departure and is now playing second-fiddle to one-time understudy Ben Davies.
That’s three of the four players that made one of the best defences in Europe a few years ago put to the wayside because there were more committed players waiting behind them – not many managers in the Premier League would be brave, daring and doubtless enough to make those kinds of cut-throat selection calls.
Currently though for whatever reason, Alderweireld and Rose are yet to receive the same fate as Walker, still at the north London club and certainly not set to join one of Tottenham’s divisional rivals following the close of the Premier League deadline.
Although it’s reported that the England man could be allowed to leave by the end of the month with PSG a possible destination, there’s a strong likelihood both will spend at least the first half of the season in north London.
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And for Pochettino, those developments come at an incredibly important time. Tottenham’s failure to bring any bodies in this summer has already been well -documented, as has the fact they’re the first side in English football not to do so since the introduction of the transfer window more than a decade ago, and while it may sound like a painful excuse straight from the Arsene Wenger handbook, Rose and Alderweireld can be like new signings for Tottenham.
After all, the pair made just 22 Premier League starts combined last season, but are undoubtedly up there with the best defenders in Europe – to reintroduce them into a team that finished third without them in 2017/18 would have an impact matching any potential signing Tottenham were linked with during the summer.
But the success of that process represents a different kind of challenge for Pochettino, one that will test his man-management skills to the maximum and scrutinise not only his actions going forward but also how well he’s handed Rose and Alderweireld’s situations previously.
The Belgian’s surprise start against Fulham last weekend suggests too many bridges haven’t been burned, but it remains to be seen whether old, underlying tensions will crop up again as the campaign goes on. More crucially though, rather than taking dissenting talents out of the team, Pochettino must now do the opposite – bed them back in, despite the lingering doubts over their futures.
In many ways, it directly contradicts the Pochettino mentality of the last few seasons, so how he rationalises publicly – his attempt to do so after the Fulham game was stern if not entirely convincing – and in the dressing room will be important.
But after such a disappointing summer in which it felt like Tottenham had killed off their own momentum by failing to add to their first-team squad, Rose and Alderweireld can play a crucial role in ensuring last season’s third-placers continue moving in the right direction.
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