Dominic Ball Believes Rangers Loan Can Help Him Earn First-team Opportunity with Spurs
One loan player who hasn’t been talked about much is Tottenham Hotspur’s Dominic Ball. The 20-year-old is excelling with Rangers at the Scottish Championship and hopes he could earn a first-team call-up next season.
The last time that Hotspur HQ, wrote an article about Spurs’ center-back, Dominic Ball, it was a reactionary piece that took a look at who could potentially fill the void when Miloš Veljković officially leaves in January.
Losing the Serbian defender was a blow as Tottenham could have had three center-backs all playing with the first-team in a few years time: Cameron Carter-Vickers, Miloš Veljković and Dominic Ball.
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Now that this won’t happen, and the current season that Ball is having with Rangers while on loan, is it fine to lose a 20-year-old center-back? Who looked primed to earn a first-team call-up after winning the FIFA Under-20 World Cup this past summer with the Serbian national team?
According to Dominic Ball and the interview that he gave with the Daily Record, he believes that the time spent playing in the Scottish Championship (as well as playing with Cambridge United in League Two from January 22, 2015 to May 31, 2015 ) will help him earn a possible call-up with Tottenham’s senior team. An achievement that Miloš Veljković has yet to receive and now won’t get anymore.
"“The manager at Spurs doesn’t care what age you are. If you work hard and are ready then you’ll play. I spoke to him last season and asked him exactly what I needed to do.”“He had given the likes of Calum Chambers and Luke Shaw an opportunity at Southampton so I asked what was required from me. He said if I showed him in training that I deserve it then I would play.”“The best thing was to go and get games so I went on loan to Cambridge and now Rangers. As a centre-half you need to play games. It’s about picking up experience and I’m getting that.”"
The amount of experience that Dominic Ball has gotten up to this point is 51 appearances. Based on his Transfermarkt performance data, the 20-year-old English defender has played for Spurs’ Under-21 team 28 times, 12 games for Rangers this season and 11 games with Cambridge earlier this year.
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It’s unknown if 51 appearances for three different clubs is enough. But so far, as stated in the last article regarding why Dominic Ball should be promoted, it was about getting first-team experience while out on loan.
Injury and a lack of faith and/or belief from managers prevented Miloš Veljković from actually receiving playing time. Which could be a reason why Mauricio Pochettino wanted to give the Serbian center-back more time to develop — hence a contract extension — and then possibly get a third shot out on loan.
This didn’t happen unfortunately but the Club has decided to move on.
Back to Dominic Ball. In front of the Under-20 England international are two backups: Kevin Wimmer and Federico Fazio and then Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen. Speaking about Pochettino’s first-choice center-back pairing, the 20-year-old knows how tough it will be to force his way into this group of central defenders.
"“Look at the amount of matches Vertonghen and Alderweireld have played in their careers so far. Even Dier this season. Of course, it’s going to be tough to get in at Tottenham but that’s what it’s all about.”“I watch every Spurs game on TV and it’s clear that Vertonghen and Alderweireld have a really good connection. I need to force my way in. If the gaffer thinks I’m good enough, he’ll put me in.”"
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If Tom Carroll, Harry Kane and Ryan Mason to name a few youth players from Spurs’ academy are now earning playing time after numerous loan spells, then it’s possible for Dominic Ball to earn a call-up as well.
Whether that happens remains to be seen but, at the end of the season there will be an open spot at center-back when Federico Fazio leaves, either in January or next summer. That could be the opening that Dominic Ball hopes will belong to him.