New Tottenham Hotspur signing Ashley Phillips has revealed that he’s already enjoying his new partnership with fellow centre-back Alfie Dorrington.
Phillips was speaking to the club’s official website after making his Under-21s debut for the club.
Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou had a serious amount of work to do in the transfer window this summer.
That business hasn’t finished yet but one key area that needed addressing was centre-back.
Antonio Conte, despite prioritising defence over attack throughout his career, couldn’t get a tune out of Tottenham’s defenders.
Micky Van de Ven has been brought in from Wolfsburg and immediately lined up alongside Cristian Romero.
However, Spurs have also brought in Ashley Phillips from Blackburn Rovers for £3m this summer.
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The 18-year-old is already an England youth international and played 14 senior matches for Blackburn before leaving.
Phillips has now admitted he’s already very comfortable playing alongside Alfie Dorrington in a Tottenham shirt.
The centre-back is very highly regarded at Spurs and the pair could end up both being options for Postecoglou in the near future.
Phillips enjoying playing with Dorrington at Tottenham
Speaking about playing with Dorrington after Spurs defeated Newcastle 4-1, Phillips said: “I’ve played with him a couple of times for England so we had that partnership already, but it was really good to join him in a Spurs shirt.
“It’s been really enjoyable. The lads have really been great with me and helped me to settle in, so it’s just about kicking on now.”
Ashley Phillips has already been training in Tottenham’s first team and was in the squad that travelled to Barcelona in pre-season.
The future of many of Tottenham’s senior centre-backs is very much up in the air with deadline day approaching.
Eric Dier, Japhet Tanganga and Davinson Sanchez could all move in the very near future.
If they do and Tottenham are unable to bring in a replacement, then Phillips and Dorrington could quickly be promoted to the first team.
Their time playing together for England will help Phillips settle in at Spurs, but it would be a surprise if they lined up together for the senior side any time soon.