Gary Mabbutt has called for Tottenham Hotspur defender Toby Alderweireld to take on a mentoring role for new Spurs signing Joe Rodon.
Speaking exclusively to This Is Futbol, the former Tottenham defender revealed that he would like to see Jose Mourinho take Alderweireld to one side and instruct him to mentor the Welshman.
He said: “I’d take Toby to one side and show him videos of playing with Jan Vertonghen alongside him two or three years ago.
“I’d say ‘at that stage, you were the best defensive pairing in the Premier League, if not in the world. Two or three years later, Toby, you are still that same player. People say you may have lost a bit of pace, but with your knowledge and experience, you can overcome that. I want you to be the backbone of our defensive solidity. I want you to bring Joe alongside you, talk to him, bring him on and show him the ropes.'”
Alderweireld was, even as recently as 2019, still considered one of the best centre-backs in the world, but this season, he has not performed that well in the Premier League, averaging a 6.74/10 rating for Spurs (as per WhoScored).
This makes him Tottenham’s eighth-highest-rated player in the league.
Do you think Alderweireld can mentor Rodon?
Yes, would be a good thing for him to do
No, don't see the point
However, when he and Vertonghen were together for Spurs, they were considered one of the best centre-back pairings in the Premier League and possibly the world.
Rodon, who joined in a deal worth up to £15m, is a young and inexperienced centre-back, having only made 54 senior appearances for Swansea City and not a single one in the Premier League before his move to north London.
Compare this with Alderweireld – who has made 179 Premier League appearances – and you can see Mabbutt’s point.
However, there was plenty of hype surrounding Rodon’s talents, with his former manager at Swansea, Steve Cooper, labelling him as one of the best centre-backs in the Championship, while the 23-year-old has earned seven caps for Wales.
Tottenham’s defence has struggled this season as they have only kept one clean sheet in the Premier League and one in the Europa League, so maybe the partnership of the Belgian and Rodon could be the solution to Spurs’ defensive woes.
Certainly, it will be interesting to see if Alderweireld and Rodon play together as the season goes on, and for the sake of the Spurs fans, we hope that they get to see the pair together at some point.