Tottenham: Three options at center-back with Sanchez and Romero out
By Aaron Coe
We know that Tottenham Hotspur will be without the club’s top two right-sided center-halves for at least two matches, what are Nuno Espirito Santo’s options for cover?
Regardless of anyone’s injury status, we know for a fact Tottenham Hotspur will be without Davinson Sanchez and Cristian Romero for at least the next two matches. The Spurs play at Selhurst Park on Saturday and then travel to France midweek for the UEFA Europa Conference League.
With the top two options for the position out, Santo will need to find cover elsewhere, here we explore three different ways for Tottenham to cover for the absence of Sanchez and Romero.
Option 1: Bring Japhet Tanganga inside from right fullback
Maybe the simplest option and the one that gets the fans to see a new acquisition the quickest would be to move Japhet Tanganga from fullback to center-half. Japhet has spent as much if not more time playing center-half through the academy as he has played right-back, so the position would not be foreign to him.
Tanganga is big enough, strong enough, and fast enough to compete with most strikers and can definitely hold his own defensively.
Bringing Tanganga inside to center-half then creates a ripple effect as the team would need to replace him at right fullback. For many, this seems like the perfect opportunity to get the new deadline day signing Emerson Royal on the field.
Emerson had played in three La Liga matches for Barcelona before the transfer so he has some minutes under his belt. This would very much be a trial by fire for Emerson with Jordan Ayew and Wilfried Zaha likely switching sides and attacking the young Brazilian.
Even if Emerson is not ready, Tottenham would still have Matt Doherty who could play right fullback outside of Tanganga, giving the move greater potential.