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Opinion: Young star of Tottenham’s pre-season could be what Pochettino needs right now

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Tottenham fans have got a lot of talented youngsters in their academy and potentially close to making their breakthrough into the first team, and one of those was prominent during the Lilywhites’ pre-season tour of Singapore and Hong Kong and their Audi Cup campaign in Munich.

The man we’re talking about is the young defender, Japhet Tanganga. The youngster made his presence known in games against the likes of Manchester United, Juventus and Inter Milan before then facing both Real Madrid and Bayern Munich as well, and he certainly performed.

Now, though, with plenty of unrest in and around the Tottenham squad, with both of the club’s Belgian defensive duo of Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld out of contract at the end of the season, it looks like Mauricio Pochettino could be set to freshen up the squad.

Whether or not he opts to bring in some new faces in January to freshen up his squad or looks to promote players from within is yet to be seen, but we’ve already seen Tanganga deal with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski and Anthony Martial during pre-season, so giving him a chance surely can’t hurt.

The only competitive senior appearance that the Lilywhites have been able to watch Tanganga in came this season, although it came in the Carabao Cup as Spurs bowed out of the competition in the third round to the League Two side on penalties after a 0-0 draw.

Penalties, however, are always a lottery, and the fact that Spurs didn’t concede in the tie can only reflect well on Tanganga as he certainly played his part. Now, though, with a number of key first-teamers failing to play their part, and Eric Dier recently drafted in to feature at centre-half, calling upon young Tanganga shouldn’t be out of the question.

Should Japhet Tanganga be starting for Spurs?

Yes

No

Pochettino showed that he trusted in the 20-year-old in pre-season and he got the mix between using youth and the seasoned pros bang on, so doing so now whilst the pressure’s on in the Premier League shouldn’t be too difficult and the youngster should get his chance.

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