In a recent video with Football.london journalist Lee Wilmot, Alasdair Gold has been discussing the latest goings-on at Tottenham Hotspur and he made a prediction regarding the upcoming announcement of Spurs’ Europa League squad.
The Lilywhites confirmed their spot in the group stages following a 7-2 win against Maccabi Haifa recently and were subsequently drawn in Group J, alongside LASK, Royal Antwerp and Ludogorets (per UEFA).
Following the end of the international transfer window, the north London club now need to make an announcement with regards to their squad for the group stages of the competition, and due to restrictions on the number of non-homegrown players, it seems as if two first-team players will have to miss out (per Football.London)
Speaking prior to the registration deadline, here’s who Gold believes will be forced to sit out of all of Spurs’ upcoming group games in the competition:
“I was going to also say about the Europa League squad. That’s the one thing that’s been a little bit of an issue for Spurs in this window, is that they had problems under [Mauricio] Pochettino, and now they’re at the stage where they’ve got two over [the limit] at the moment.
“I understand the likely duo who are going to miss out are probably going to be [Paulo] Gazzaniga and Gedson [Fernandes]. That’s who I think it’s going to be, it’s a tough decision.”
TIF Thoughts…
It is perhaps unsurprising to hear that Gold expects these two to miss out, as following the signing of Joe Hart, Gazzaniga is yet to make an appearance this season, whilst Fernandes has made just one appearance, which came in the EFL Cup against Chelsea.
Do you agree that these players should be the ones to miss out?
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The Portuguese midfielder has not managed to make much of an impact since joining on loan from Benfica in January, featuring just 13 times in all competitions while failing to contribute a single goal or assist (per Transfermarkt), therefore, it is understandable why he might be one to be omitted, and as it stands, it would be a big surprise if Spurs were to exercise their option to make his loan deal permanent at the end of his current spell.