Why Spurs must bring USA youngster straight into their side
Published:
The issues are mounting up for Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham Hotspur, where the Argentine has made a less than impressive start to life.
Spurs have won just four of their first 11 games, and their odds to claim a top-four berth this term have drifted out to 9/1.
The defence is a mess, especially in the centre, where the worst captaincy choice since Edward Smith was picked for the top job on the Titanic continues to scupper the Lilywhites.
Younes Kaboul is lucky to be at the club, let alone skippering the first team, while Spurs are also struggling to pose a consistent goal threat.
Amid all this, some might view the right-back slot as a fairly low-priority problem, but it is certainly one that might be easily solved in January.
Spurs agreed a deal for Seattle Sounders right-back DeAndre Yedlin over the summer, with plans in place for him to actually move to north London ahead of next season.
However, his passport issues appear to have been solved with unexpected alacrity, and Yedlin will have his Latvian documentation sorted within a couple of weeks.
In light of Kyle Walker’s continuing injury troubles, Spurs have to take advantage of this bureaucratic bonanza and move Yedlin’s arrival forward to January.
Pochettino’s inverted wingers system often sees the side lacking width and the full-backs have to be consistent attacking threats for it to work.
For all his defensive faults, Danny Rose is an accomplished attacking left-back, but Kyle Naughton and Eric Dier are uncomfortable in the role.
Spurs are often left lopsided and narrow as a result, but Yedlin’s great pace and natural inclination to go forward could address this problem immediately.
The USA international, currently involved in the MLS playoffs after Seattle won the Supporters’ Shield recently, has been named an All-Star in the league in both 2013 and 2014.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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