Alex Pritchard Briefly Talks About Tottenham Exit

Former Tottenham midfielder, Alex Pritchard, has briefly mentioned Spurs after signing for Norwich City.

One little nugget that wasn’t immediately brought up following Alex Pritchard’s exit from Tottenham a couple of days ago, was his reaction to how things ended for the 23-year-old.

After speaking about his excitement to play for Norwich City and starting a new chapter in his career back in the Championship, the attacking midfielder mentioned how he was disappointed with the outcome but was glad it actually happened.

“It was a bit disappointing to finally leave Spurs,” said Alex Pritchard (via Mirror)

“But in the end I couldn’t wait to get out of there. They just never gave me a chance.”

If it seems like Pritchard’s tone is one of bitterness after the handling of his final season with Tottenham under Mauricio Pochettino, following a fantastic 2014-15 campaign with Brentford, that isn’t actually the case.

If anything, the former Spurs midfielder is simply stating the facts.

He actually didn’t get any chance at all, which is 100 percent true. But there are a couple of reasons as to why this happened.

ENFIELD, ENGLAND – AUGUST 10: Alex Pritchard of Spurs battles with Anthony Evans of Everton during the Barclays U21 Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur U21 and Everton U21 at Tottenham Hotspur Training Ground on August 10, 2015 in Enfield, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) /

For one, during Alex Pritchard’s graduation into the first-team five years ago, Harry Redknapp was the manager and didn’t exactly favor youth players too much.

This meant that Pritchard would have to go back and play with Tottenham’s second team before getting a chance to go on loan with Peterborough United for half of the 2012-13 season. And even then he still wasn’t getting much playing time.

Following an unsuccessful loan spell with Peterborough, Spurs would send Pritchard to Swindon Town for a season-long loan and he showed plenty of promise. With Tim Sherwood the manager during the 2013-14 campaign he could have given Alex Pritchard a chance, but sending him to Swindon Town was still a good move.

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After Sherwood was replaced by Mauricio Pochettino in May 2014, Pritchard would once again go on loan, this time to Brentford and had his best season to date in the 2014-15 campaign. This came on the heels of a good year at League One with Swindon.

By then, the hype surrounding Alex Pritchard started picking up.

He would be one of the most exciting prospects in Tottenham’s academy in his age group and the heir apparent to Christian Eriksen if the time came.

Unfortunately an ankle injury to start the summer of 2015 in the Under-21 European Championship played a huge role in the 23-year-old’s slow and eventual departure with Spurs.

But the most surprising turn of events came from this past February when Pochettino decided to loan the attacking midfielder to West Bromwich Albion. At the time, it made sense, Pritchard had fallen down the pecking order and getting a chance to break into the first-team would have been tough with Dele Alli and Son Heung-Min more than enough.

Therefore a loan move was smart, but hindsight is 20/20 and in the end it actually didn’t make sense. Tony Pulis opted to not play Alex Pritchard much because he was apparently still recovering from his ankle injury suffered in the Under-21 Euros.

After two good loan spells in back-to-back seasons from 2013 to 2015, Pritchard’s fourth and final loan while a member of Tottenham ended as bad as it started when he joined Peterborough back in 2012.

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So yes, while Alex Pritchard is glad to have been sold by Tottenham due to a lack of playing time with the first-team under Tim Sherwood or Mauricio Pochettino, both managers were able to give the 23-year-old a chance (albeit on loan) where he made the most of his opportunities.

It’s a loss for Spurs, to lose a young midfielder who could have been a good addition to this team for the upcoming season. But if Pochettino felt that his team was better without Pritchard, it’s hard to argue with his decision making when he’s helped shape the current squad to how it is with successful results these past two years.

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