Cameron Carter-Vickers and Tottenham Agree to New Deal
Tottenham continue to secure one of their own with Cameron Carter-Vickers the latest in a line of Spurs players to commit their future with the Lilywhites.
Cameron Carter-Vickers’ latest contract extension makes him the eight Tottenham player to sign a long-term deal to remain with the North London club in the month of September.
Although the 18-year-old’s extension will last for three years until 2019 — like Tom Carroll — it’s to be expected that the Under-23 U.S. international will eventually see his new deal get reworked in the near future. Something that Mauricio Pochettino and Daniel Levy have constantly done with players who always improve and get better after signing a contract extension.
“I’ve had some great experiences already this season,” Carter-Vickers said (via Spurs’ official site). “This new deal shows the manager has faith in me. It means a lot. I’ve been here since I was 10 just working hard trying to get to this stage. Obviously, I want to push on again, but as I said, yes, it means a lot.”
After impressing Pochettino in three pre-season matches (Juventus, Atlético Madrid and Inter Milan), this was enough for the Argentine manager to make a startling change at the third-choice center-back spot to begin the new league campaign.
“He’s a beast!” Mauricio Pochettino exclaimed after watching Cameron Carter-Vickers during their pre-season tour in Australia and Norway. “He’s like a wall!”
“For an 18-year-old, he showed good character, played against Juventus, Atlético Madrid, [Inter Milan] against [Paulo] Dybala, Fernando Torres, [Mauro] Icardi and [Stevan] Jovetić and he showed real qualities.”
This is high praise for a young defender who is still improving his game, but after representing Spurs’ Under-18 and Under-21 teams in recent seasons while donning the captain’s armband, his promotion to the first-team wasn’t unexpected.
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In fact, many predicted that he would eventually get called up soon and this year he did.
With Cameron Carter-Vickers becoming a regular in Mauricio Pochettino’s 18-man matchday squads to start the 2016-17 Premier League season, it’s a sign that he has surpassed Kevin Wimmer in the depth chart.
And indeed, that was the case initially. Pochettino was asked why Wimmer, who played well in relief of Jan Vertonghen after suffering a knee injury this past January, wasn’t on the bench and his answer was straight to the point.
Kevin Wimmer’s absence was simply due to Carter-Vickers’ performances in pre-season and unfortunately two injuries after signing a long-term deal back in late-July.
Because of this it seemed like Wimmer’s future this season was cloudy at best. But in Tottenham’s third round cup tie against League One side, Gillingham, Carter-Vickers and Wimmer both made their first appearance by starting the game and playing all 90 minutes.
Since then, both players have now appeared together on the bench against Middlesbrough and CSKA Moscow. Getting his first start of the year, Cameron Carter-Vickers once again praised Mauricio Pochettino for giving him his first major opportunity in the League Cup.
“Going into the game [against Gillingham] I was a little nervous, it was my first appearance but I soon eased into the game,” Carter-Vickers said.
“Again, that showed the manager has faith in me and means I have to keep going, keep doing what I’m doing and hopefully I’ll get more opportunities.”
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No doubt more opportunities will come for the young English-born, American international with Tottenham advancing into the League Cup’s fourth round. He could expect another start and will continue to train with that in mind by learning from Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld in the meantime.
“In my opinion, we’ve two of the best centre-backs in the Premier League right here and to be able to train with them every day and watch them play, I can only learn from that,” Cameron Carter-Vickers added.
“I like them on the ball, they are always very calm, defensively they cover each other so well and they always look assured. They both give me advice and they’ve helped me a lot.”
“I just want to push on, work hard in training, improve my game and hopefully I’ll get more playing time. The more I play, the more confident and better I’ll get.”