Welshman making case to crack Tottenham starting lineup

What Rodon needs to improve on to become full-fledged starter

Rodon made 12 appearances for Tottenham last season, including eight starts. He helped Tottenham keep a clean sheet at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea in his Tottenham debut. Rodon couldn’t have made a more telling impact on his first Premier League match with his new club. He followed that 0-0 draw with a 3-1 victory against Sheffield United.

Rodon was then brought back to reality in his next two top flight outings. A glaring mishap against Liverpool allowed Sadio Mane to score the insurance marker in a 3-1 defeat, the first egregious error that led to a goal in his fledgling career in north London. Although Jose Mourinho should shoulder most of the blame for putting the Welshman in a position to fail.

That loss was closely followed by another defeat, this time to Brighton 1-0 away from home. In his final four starts of the season, Rodon won one, lost one and tied two. Overall Spurs won two, lost three and tied three matches when the Welshman started.

Rodon played solid enough in most of his starts, but, similar to his older, more experienced centre back colleagues, made too many individual errors. If he cuts out those costly mistakes, Rodon is on the cusp of being ready to start consistently at an elite level. Toby should be a shoo-in for one of the starting spots, while Dier will probably still go into pre-season training the favourite to secure the second starting role at the heart of Spurs’ defence. However, one slip up from the Englishman should see him replaced by the up and coming Rodon.

After Rodon’s impressive Euro 2020 campaign, he should be given an opportunity to prove why he provides a better option than Dier or Sanchez. But a lot will depend on who Spurs finally appoint as manager, and whether the club can poach an elite centre back on the open market.