Carter-Vickers to Get First-team Chance with Spurs
Mauricio Pochettino name drops Cameron Carter-Vickers as a possible addition to join Spurs’ first-team as cover for Jan Vertonghen.
With Jan Vertonghen’s injury keeping him sidelined for at least two months due to medial ligament collateral damage in his knee that was first reported by The Sun and later confirmed by Spurs’ official website. Replacing Vertonghen will be Kevin Wimmer because of his familiarity with Toby Alderweireld, where the two center-backs have played together for four games. Not to mention that Wimmer was signed for depth purposes.
However, another player who has long been pinned for a promotion could get his chance soon. And that is 18-year-old Cameron Carter-Vickers who has spent time training with Spurs’ first-team and has played in the Under-21 Barclays Premier League.
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Promoting Cameron Carter-Vickers would be a good move for Spurs to make because there’s a need for an emergency central defender while Jan Vertonghen is recovering. Seeing as how Federico Fazio has only gotten one start and has yet to return to the starting eleven, let alone the seven-player substitutes’ bench.
“We have a lot of players in defensive positions that can play. We have another youngster from the academy — Cameron Carter-Vickers,” Pochettino said in a press conference (quotes from ESPN FC).
“He is still young but he has enough quality and he is training with us from the beginning of the season and playing for the under-21s. It’s a good opportunity to stay with us now more consistently. I think we have enough players to cover his [Vertonghen’s] injury.”
As for Miloš Veljković, another defender in Tottenham’s academy, it’s telling that his decision to refuse a contract extension a while back has seen a golden opportunity to earn a call-up to the first-team — with Vertonghen’s injury — be given to a much younger and raw player in Carter-Vickers.
Perhaps Mauricio Pochettino feels that the 20-year-old Serbian defender is no longer in his plans and trying to convince him to reconsider his decision isn’t an option at all.
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But what’s more interesting is that while Jan Vertonghen’s position is going to be taken care of with Kevin Wimmer and Cameron Carter-Vickers, probably even Eric Dier who has gotten a couple of games at center-back this season, and even Federico Fazio if need be.
There seems to be no cover for Érik Lamela, or more players who can help compete with the Argentine winger this term while Clinton N’Jie is still recovering from his own MCL injury.
Even with Son Heung-min being versatile enough to play all three attacking positions as well as striker, what will Spurs do with Nathan Oduwa who is a wide midfielder? He has recently returned from Scottish club, Rangers, after his loan deal was cut short after falling down Mark Warburton’s pecking order due to a drop in form.
Not to mention, what will eventually happen to Harry Winks? During the summer, Warburton wanted to sign Winks on loan to join his Rangers side but Mauricio Pochettino had plans for the 19-year-old English central midfielder to play a big role with Spurs this season — or that was the thought.
While center-back is a position that needs depth right now, a majority of Tottenham’s injuries this season has been at midfield which has dropped Spurs’ squad from 25 players to 19: N’Jie, Vertonghen, Alex Pritchard and Ryan Mason are injured. Federico Fazio is frozen out of the first-team and Andros Townsend was sold.
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As good of a move as promoting Cameron Carter-Vickers is, he is still raw and could stay in the academy to fine tune his game even more. With regards to Nathan Oduwa and Harry Winks, if a possible call-up for Carter-Vickers is inevitable, Oduwa and Winks’ chances of making an impact this term will be gone.
So perhaps Oduwa and Winks should go out on loan to Fulham that way Spurs are able to finalize a deal for Moussa Dembélé and loan him back to hopefully help the Cottagers avoid relegation and remain in the Championship for another year.