Tottenham beat Chelsea on penalties to secure their place in the EFL Cup quarter-finals, but I couldn’t help notice all the players left out of the matchday squad.
Giovani Lo Celso and Harry Winks were rested while Heung-min Son and Gareth Bale are currently sidelined with injury, but Paulo Gazzaniga, Danny Rose, Juan Foyth and Dele Alli didn’t feature and may never again.
Gazzaniga has made 37 appearances in all competitions since joining Tottenham from Southampton in 2017 and has conceded 43 goals while keeping 10 clean sheets. The 28-year-old’s last appearance came in our 3-2 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers (March 1, 2020).
Gazzaniga may not add to his tally, however, as Joe Hart has been promoted to second-choice since his move from Burnley this summer. He’s been left out of the matchday squad for all six of our games this season, so it doesn’t look likely that he’ll be given a reprieve by Jose Mourinho.
Rose has made 214 appearances in all competitions since joining from Leeds United in 2007, scoring 10 goals with 29 assists. The 30-year-old’s last appearance came in our 1-0 defeat to Liverpool (January 11, 2020) and he doesn’t stand a chance of featuring again.
Rose has been dropped from the first-team, not given a squad number and is currently playing in the reserves. He’s behind Ben Davies, Sergio Reguilon and Ryan Sessegnon in the pecking order and is expected to leave before the summer transfer window shuts.
Foyth has made 32 appearances in all competitions since joining from Estudiantes in 2017, scoring one goal. The 22-year-old’s last appearance came in our 2-2 draw with Norwich City (December 28, 2019) and he now finds himself behind Toby Alderweireld, Davinson Sanchez, Eric Dier and Japhet Tanganga in the pecking order.
With Tottenham not considering Foyth to replace Jan Vertonghen, instead being linked with Issa Diop, Ben White, Kim Min-jae, Lewis Dunk, Diego Carlos, Milan Skriniar, Ozan Kabak, Ben Godfrey, Kristoffer Ajer, Robin Koch, Guillermo Maripán, Ruben Dias and Antonio Rudiger this summer, it’s clear his future is away from North London.
Alli has made 224 appearances in all competitions since joining from MK Dons in 2015, scoring 62 goals with 55 assists, but his days here look numbered.
The 24-year-old played 45 minutes in our 1-0 defeat to Everton (September 13) and 60 minutes in our Europa League win over Shkendija Tetovo (September 24), but Mourinho left him out in our Europa League win over Lokomotiv Plovdiv (September 17), 5-2 win over Southampton (September 20), 1-1 draw with Newcastle United (September 27) and EFL Cup win over Chelsea (September 29).
All four players were once in our starting eleven but could now be on their way out in the coming days. It’s sad to see.
In other news, how did Sergio Reguilon fare on his Tottenham debut against Chelsea?