Ange Postecoglou has said that he let Davinson Sanchez leave this summer thanks to the signing of young defender Ashley Phillips.
Tottenham managed to sign Phillips from Blackburn Rovers ahead of a number of teams. The teenager had impressed at Ewood Park and has made an immediate impression at Spurs as well.
And speaking to the press today, Postecoglou has admitted that Phillips could be in line for some game time soon after working hard in training.
Postecoglou impressed with Tottenham youngster Ashley Phillips
Speaking about his defensive options ahead of the clash with Sheffield United this weekend, Postecoglou admitted that he’d let Sanchez leave with an eye on Phillips.
“We’ve got young Ash in, who is working really hard and improving all the time. For us, to hold onto him for some sort of security would have been a missed opportunity. We need to change this squad, rebuild this team, and that was the reason we allowed Davinson to go,” Postecoglou said.
“We think he has great potential. Obviously it is hard because he hasn’t played at all for us because he wasn’t here for pre-season and missed all that, but he has had a couple of U21 games, which is great.
“We will try get him some game time but training with us every day, you can see him getting closer and closer and yeah if we need to use him, we will.”
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Phillips is said to have impressed Postecoglou behind the scenes. Indeed, it’s even believed he could be ahead of the more experienced Eric Dier now.
One to watch
There is no doubt that Tottenham have snapped themselves up a fine young player in Ashley Phillips.
However, even the most optimistic of Spurs fan wouldn’t have expected Phillips to be in the running to get first-team minutes so soon into his career in London.
But it does seem Phillips is impressing and Ange’s comments here show that he is taking note of the youngster.
Quite what the future holds for the likes of Dier, remains to be seen. But for Phillips, it seems like a big career awaits for him in the white of Tottenham.