Nathan Clark, a contributor on The Extra Inch Podcast has been discussing the situation regarding the centre-backs at Tottenham Hotspur during a recent edition of the podcast.
Spurs recently added Joe Rodon to their squad, a 22-year-old Welsh centre-back from Swansea City in a deal reportedly worth £11m (as per BBC Sport) but failed to land Milan Skriniar from Inter Milan despite talks taking place between the two clubs. Jose Mourinho’s side have already conceded eight goals in the Premier League this season and therefore it could be argued, defensively, they may not quite be where their boss wants them to be.
Clark, a football analyst, didn’t shy away from the fact the Lilywhites seem to have an issue at centre-back and elaborated on it further, here is what he had to say:
“You’re always preparing for the next window. [Jan] Vertonghen and [Toby] Alderweireld falling off from being two of the very best centre-backs in the world was something that we should have seen coming for years and years and years, we should have had better plans around that. We spent over £40m on Davinson Sanchez, that hasn’t worked out for us, we clung on to [Eric] Dier, we brought in Foyth and things didn’t work out there. Maybe we’ve been a little unlucky, maybe we’ve been a little poor with how we’ve prepared for the situation but we’re in it now. We have an issue at centre-back.”
Will Spurs' failure to improve further in the centre-back area cost them this season?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts on Nathan Clark’s regarding Spurs’ centre-back options…
It’s clear that Clark feels Spurs find themselves in this current situation due to a combination of some bad luck and poor planning. Alderweireld has been the club’s best performing central defender so far this season with a somewhat underwhelming average performance rating of 6.62/10 (as per WhoScored) and that in itself, in our view, tells a story about where the team’s current biggest weakness is.