During a recent YouTube video, Football.london journalist Alasdair Gold spent some time talking about Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Joe Rodon.
Rodon made his second appearance for the Lilywhites since moving to the north London club from Championship side Swansea City back in October when he replaced Toby Alderweireld in the 81st minute of Spurs’ 2-0 Premier League win over Manchester City on Saturday.
Alderweireld left the pitch holding his groin and after the match, Spurs boss Jose Mourinho indicated that the Belgian’s injury could be a long-term one.
Rodon is yet to start a game for Spurs but with Alderweireld potentially out of action and the 23-year-old Welshman ineligible to play in the UEFA Europa League – with Tottenham set to host Ludogorets Razgrad in that competition on Thursday – Gold suggested that the £6.3m-rated defender could make his first Spurs start in their next Premier League game versus Chelsea on Sunday, saying:
“Rodon has certainly put himself into the mix to start at Stamford Bridge next weekend. He came off the bench, and in big circumstances. I think the biggest credit to him, the biggest thing you could say – you didn’t really notice a difference in the defending, and I think that’s massive.
“He replaced Alderweireld, who’d had a brilliant game, and Spurs didn’t really slack in their defensive resolve at all; he did very well. So, by the looks of it – because he can’t play in Europe, either – I think he might start at Stamford Bridge if Alderweireld can’t play. So that’s big for him – massive opportunity.”
Do you think Joe Rodon should start versus Chelsea?
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TIF Thoughts on what Gold had to say about Rodon…
While Gold may be right in saying that Rodon didn’t look out of place in his brief appearance versus Manchester City, he was only on the pitch for the dying minutes of the match and so it may be too soon to say whether or not he could slot into Alderweireld’s position from the start versus Chelsea without a noticeable drop in the quality of Spurs’ defending and since he’d never played in the top-flight before the current campaign, we feel this would be a big risk for Mourinho to take.
Just last month, the Portuguese manager stated that he feels Rodon “needs to grow up” before he is ready for the Premier League and so, unless he’s made significant progress since then, perhaps he isn’t as likely to start versus Chelsea as Gold seems to think he is, though it remains to be seen what Mourinho’s plans are.