Former Colombia coach, Jorge Luis Pinto, has claimed that Tottenham Hotspur defender, Davinson Sanchez, is not good enough to play for his country on a regular basis.
After the chaos of the international break, Sanchez – alongside Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso - were all unavailable for Spurs’ 3-0 defeat to Crystal Palace as they were forced to isolate in Croatia as their respective international duties took them to red-listed countries.
However, Pinto thinks that Sanchez shouldn’t have been playing for his country in the first place because he’s not good of a high enough quality.
“Four years ago, I told my son, who loves football, that Davinson is not a centre-back for the Colombia national team,” he told ESPN F90, via teamtalk.
“With all the respect that Davinson deserves, he is a healthy, correct, hardworking man and everything, but he doesn’t have the talent, the playing time, all those details that a centre-back needs.
“The time of play, the handling of game intent, the handling of backs, the defensive breakdowns, the shock impact that sometimes you can’t be so aggressive.”
Pinto continued by explaining that he doesn’t have anything against Sanchez as a person, but he hasn’t been able to adapt to Colombia’s system in the past.
“Davinson is an extraordinary human being, as the lads have told me,” he added.
“But he lacks that slow, balanced handling of the play, knowing how to correspond to the line of four.
“I have said that the line of four is a collective system – it is not an individual action.
“It is a system of four and with the midfielders of six or eight players. And Davinson lacks that combination, that collective understanding.”
Sanchez will be hoping he can prove Pinto wrong as soon as he returns to action with Spurs, which judging by Eric Dier’s injury and Japhet Tanganga’s red card at the weekend, could come very quickly.
Tottenham face Rennes in their first game of the Europa Conference League Group stage on Thursday night.
