Even though Tottenham Hotspur will be disappointed that they dropped points to Brighton in the early Premier League title race, there were still plenty of positives to take away from a 2-2 comeback draw on the road against one of the league's toughest teams, especially for Tottenham historically speaking.
Obviously, the biggest storyline was superstar summer transfer Xavi Simons coming off the bench and turning the tide of the game, as Spurs would not have drawn Brighton without his impact off the bench. Simons looked right at home in his first action as the true Tottenham No. 10, and it's a role he won't soon relinquish.
But from start to finish, the Tottenham player who impressed the most and changed his fortunates the greatest, as far as his future in the starting lineup, was young left back Destiny Udogie.
The Italian international has been at Tottenham for a couple of years now, but Thomas Frank didn't get his first real look of action at him until this weekend against Brighton due to injury, with Djed Spence playing pretty well in recurring starts for Spurs as a lockdown one-on-one defender.
A different dimension for Thomas Frank
Udogie, however, offered an entirely different element to the team while Tottenham suffered no real dropoff defensively. He was active and read the game beautifully from a defensive standpoint while offering more ball progression width, and both range and accuracy of passing.
Thomas Frank is going to be a far more pragmatic coach with the expectations Tottenham have compared to Brentford, but he is still going to want to push forward and force the issue on opposing teams with fullbacks who can actively support the attack. Udogie fits the equation better than Spence can, because he offers the technical ability and creativity as a passer that Spence doesn't.
Udogie is such an underrated player. He can push up wide or come inside like a midfielder and do those things to support the attack without sacrificing much defensively, and it's rare to find fullbacks who have that kind of skill set. If Frank didn't already love Udogie for the big impact he had against Brighton or even upon film review before ever stepping foot at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this year, then he will be downright smitten with the young left back in the coming weeks. Udogie is just as much of an impact player to watch going into October as Lucas Bergvall or anyone else.