Japhet Tanganga may have just given Jose Mourinho a selection headache at right-back after a very promising showing against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup.
Handed his league debut against Liverpool on Saturday evening as the boss decided to throw the youngster in, the academy ace was once given the nod for the cup replay against the Championship outfit.
Excellent at the weekend as Jurgen Klopp's team visited N17, Tanganga was even better as he gave the visitors a host of problems with his driving runs from right-back.
He also came close to registering his first goal for the club as well as he just shot wide after finding himself in space in the area during the first half.
Certainly not his natural position given he usually plays in the middle of defence, Tanganga has admitted that he will play in any position for Mourinho.
"It hasn't been for a while, I haven't played right back for a while but obviously if the manager needs me to do a job – left back, right back, midfield – I'll do it," he said after the cup win over Boro.
"I'm comfortable on the ball, I'm comfortable doing a job wherever the manager needs me. I want to work for the team."
While some managers may have thought twice about putting Tanganga in against Liverpool given their feared front three of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, Mourinho had no qualms at all and threw the player in at the deep end.
However, what helped him was the fact that his teammates were saying that he comes up against the likes of Son Heung-min, Lucas Moura and Harry Kane in training day in, day out at Hotspur Way.
"Obviously beforehand [I was thinking] those two are probably up there with the best. Obviously Mane's the African Player of the Year. He's a great player, Salah's a great player," said the defender.
"But leading into the game, the boys were just encouraging me. They were telling me Sonny's a great player as well. You come up against him in training. Harry Kane, Lucas Moura – they're top players so you've just got to handle them the way you've been doing in training.
"Personnel wise they're different but they're still at the high level and you're doing it every day so you should be able to handle it."
Tanganga did admit to some sleepless nights ahead of his league debut but he claimed that he was fine on the day of the game.
"Leading it up it, yeah," he said when asked about any nerves. "A couple of times I barely slept. But as a footballer, no matter if it's your debut, you've got to concentrate, you're out there to do a job.
"There's a reason the manager chose me and he wants me to do a certain job. So I can't be thinking about the nerves.
"As soon as I got in the tunnel, I was fine. On the day I was OK. No nerves, I was OK."
