Speaking exclusively to This is Futbol, Carlton Palmer has praised Kyle Walker-Peters’ decision to leave Tottenham and said the right-back simply needed to be playing regular football.
The 24-year-old had slipped down the pecking order at his boyhood club last season, making just five appearances prior to his loan move to Southampton in January.
Walker-Peters quickly became a regular at St Mary’s following a string of impressive performances when football returned after the first lockdown in 2020.
Is Kyle Walker-Peters Southampton's best defender?
Yes
No
And the Saints decided to make his deal permanent last summer in a £15m deal.
The former Spurs man has continued to shine despite Southampton’s struggles, appearing 31 times in all competitions, and produced another measured display in the recent draw with Leicester.
Walker-Peters came through the Academy at Tottenham, which wouldn’t have made his exit any easier.
And Palmer praised the right-back for taking a risk of leaving something he knew so well and was comfortable with to enhance his chances of more regular football.
He told This is Futbol:
“[It’s] always a good decision to play. You’ve got to play. It doesn’t matter where you go to as a young player, or a player out of the side, you need to play.
“If you’re not playing, nobody is going to buy you, you need game-time, it’s that simple. There’s no point of sitting on the bench or in the reserves, you should get out and play.
“Tammy Abraham did that two seasons ago at Aston Villa and has come back to Chelsea and done well.”