If there is one Spurs player you can say for definite that will benefit from the appointment of Nuno Espirito Santo, it would certainly be Irish defender Matt Doherty, who played under the Portuguese boss at Wolves.
His debut season in North London didn’t go as planned, despite statistically being one of the top performers in the UEFA Europa League last year.
After losing his place in the starting line-up in the Premier League to Serge Aurier, it almost looked like there wasn’t a route back to the strongest eleven – but under a new manager who he already has a fantastic relationship with, anything is possible.
🤝 Working with Nuno.
⏪ Assessing last season.
🏃♂️ What to expect from 21/22 pre-season.We sat down with Matt Doherty earlier this week ⤵️🎥 pic.twitter.com/TvIFtjl0nc
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) July 11, 2021
“I’ve said over the years that I’ve nothing but praise for Nuno, he’s a world-class coach and his backroom staff are world-class as well, and I maintain that, that doesn’t change and we’re very fortunate to have him here,” said Doherty.
“We had a good relationship at Wolves. He had an immediate impact, winning the league [Championship] with 99 points in the first season and then going back-to-back seventh place finishes and getting into Europe.
🎙| Matt Doherty 🇮🇪 on new #Tottenham head coach Nuno Espírito Santo 🇵🇹: “he's a very good on-field coach.”
“As I've said over the years I've got nothing but praise for him. He's a world class coach and his backroom staff are world class and I maintain that.” pic.twitter.com/tHhC9W90MH— The Spurs Express (@TheSpursExpress) July 10, 2021
‘He’s had nothing but success so far in England and with the set-up, facilities and quality of player we have here, I’m sure it will be successful for him.”
Doherty also reassured fans that the squad will be drilled well, be fit for the new season and will have a work hard mentality during pre-season in preparation for the new campaign.
“They [rest of the Spurs squad] can expect good training sessions,” Doherty continued. “We’re going to have to work hard. You’ll see he’s quite hands-on on the training pitch, going around giving little bits of advice to players, what he wants to see from them.
The moment Matt Doherty sent Wolves fans absolutely crazy…#watwol #FACuphttps://t.co/GPO1iqsrik pic.twitter.com/PE52w9CFPX
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) April 7, 2019
“It will be a tough pre-season, but not unbearable! His backroom staff know exactly what they are doing, so they will push us to the limit and just when we feel we’re going to fall down, they will give us a rest day or an afternoon off and we’ll be able to recharge our batteries.
“We’ve a long pre-season ahead of us, but he’ll have us in shape by the first game of the season.”
👀 Tottenham are ‘hopeful’ of completing a deal for Tomiyasu, but the clubs are understood to be around £5M apart with negotiations set to continue. Tomiyasu wants a move to the PL.
[via @mcgrathmike]
https://t.co/9WbUggUvkq— HotspurReports. (@hotspurreports) July 8, 2021
Doherty will most likely be in competition with Japanese international Takehiro Tomiyasu, who is reportedly ready to sign a contract when Bologna and Spurs completely agree the fee.