Tottenham will not be going into the open market to look for a replacement for injured centerback Jan Vertognhen. The club is confident in the options it has available, including youngster Cameron Carter-Vickers.
Tottenham lost Vertonghen for approximately eight weeks this past Saturday in a 3-1 win over Crystal Palace after the veteran suffered knee ligament damage. The injury means Spurs will be without one of its regular starters as it attempts to solidify a place in next season’s UEFA Champions League, but head coach Mauricio Pochettino believes reserves like 18-year-old Carter-Vickers have what it takes to help fill the void.
“We have a lot of players in defensive positions that can play. We have another youngster from the academy, Cameron Carter-Vickers,” said Pochettino. “He’s young but he has enough quality, and he’s been training with us from the beginning of the season and playing with the Under-21s.
“I think it’s a good opportunity (for him) to stay with us now more consistently. I don’t expect to (sign a player to) cover Jan Vertonghen, I think we have enough players to cover his injury.”
A U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team defender, Carter-Vickers has yet to make an appearance for Tottenham’s first team.
Tottenham’s next match is an FA Cup tilt on the road on Saturday against Colchester United.
What do you think about Pochettino’s stance on Carter-Vickers? Do you see Carter-Vickers making his first-team debut soon? Will not signing a centerback come back to haunt Tottenham?
Share your thoughts below.
When it comes to hyping a US player, a defender is much more likely to deliver in expectations. But who the f*ck? can’t be excited about our emerging crew of center backs? It is easy to overlook just how good Gooch and DeMerit were, but these guys look to have more skill on the ball.
Never that impressed with DeMerit. Bocanegra had a much better career with both club and country. He and Gooch were a great CB combo for the national team. Boca could also be an offensive threat. I just looked it up and he had 14 goals in 110 caps for the nats in his career, quite a few for a defender.
Your last comment hit the nail on the head. We’ve always had physically impressive CB’s, guys who are good in the air and hard in the tackle.
We’ve finally got several CB prospects who are far better on the technical and tactical sides of the game. And its those 2 traits that are extremely important when trying to play the proactive, attacking, and possession based play that JK has been trying to implement.
We’re finally producing CB’s that are more like Mats Hummels, and less like Omar Gonzalez.
John Brook, Matt Miazga and Cameron Carter-Vickers as our future center backs the future looks bright for our USMNT!
Wouldn’t mind seeing CCV and Miazga paired up in the EPL together at some point
CCV was impressive, but he has yet to show he can hold his own with grown men in terms of soccer IQ since he will not be able to dominate by pure physicality which he can against players close to his own age. Signs point to him being able to grow.
Right now, I think Miazga is the better of the two, mostly because he did play a whole season against professionals and seemed to grow with the experience.
It was only one game, but CCV did fine against Falcao in a game vs Chelsea U21. Also just to note, CCV, normally captain of the Spurs U21 team, was not in their 18 for their recent game. I think that gives him a chance to start for this cup game. You would think he would still play the U21 game if he was only going to make the bench for their cup game.
Serious man child. maybe should be the new GAM.
Looks like my dislike for Hotspurs and Chelsea may be thawing a little.
Agreed with jb’s comments, the two CBs were really the best players for the U20 MNT
*Hotspur! More to the point, how on earth can you pair Tottenham with Chelsea?
Easy. Both have young American defenders. Amirite?
he certainly trusts his young players. Jan is the oldest player there at 28 and Alli, Dyer, Kane, Bentaleb all started getting minutes at Spurs when they were his age
with Jan’s injury he should be the second choice LCB – so I would expect to see some Cup starts. maybe even tomorrow vs Colchester.
Good for him, keep working hard
The hype train still has room for passengers. Board at your own discretion.
Vertonghen, veteran?!? Steady on! He’s only 28!
I mean yeah, age has nothing to do with it. He has just shy of 400 caps for club (150+ for Ajax, and 220+ for Tottenham). He has far for experience than Matt Besler (216 caps for KC).
Has enormous potential what he needs now is the opportunity to step up and play at the higher level. Povh is the manager to do that.
Wow, that’s a pretty big vote of confidence for a 18 yr old at a big club. When I watched the US Olympic qualifiers, him and Miazga seemed like the obvious standouts. Bright future for CCV.