Here are your Tottenham Hotspur morning headlines for Wednesday, 21 October.
Spurs preparing to terminate Rose contract
Tottenham are reportedly ready to hand Danny Rose a pay-off to cancel his contract after failing to find a taker for the England international.
The long-serving left-back spent the end of last season on loan at Newcastle United, playing 11 league games for the Magpies, but has been left out of Spurs’ Premier League and Europa League squads after returning to north London.
According to Football Insider, Spurs are considering the possibility of mutually agreeing to terminate the defender’s contact, which is due to expire in June.
Rose is believed to be on £70,000 per week, but played just five times under Jose Mourinho before moving on loan to Newcastle in January.
His last action in a Tottenham shirt was a 69-minute run-out as Spurs lost to Liverpool in the league on January 11, and the arrival of Sergio Reguilon has pushed the 30-year-old further down the pecking order.
How Dele Alli fits into Mourinho’s plans with squad balance dilemma
Dele Alli once again missed out for Tottenham on Sunday, with the midfielder absent from Jose Mourinho’s 18-man squad for the draw against West Ham United.
The former MK Dons man hasn’t started in the league since the opening day of the season, and has played less than 90 minutes of Premier League football all season.
Harry Winks was the only midfielder on the bench on Sunday, and Mourinho has spoken about the need for balance in his matchday 18.
“I cannot have on the bench four wingers or three wingers and a number 10, and then no defenders,” the Spurs manager said earlier in the season when Alli missed the win at Southampton.
The midfielder has played twice in Europe, in the wins over Shkendija and Maccabi Haifa, and is expected to be involved on Thursday against LASK.
However, the make-up of Mourinho’s Premier League benches ensures he’s likely to be fighting it out for just one available spot when everyone is fit.
We’ve taken a closer look at the situation, in an effort to contextualise the size of the task facing Alli as he attempts to play his way back into contention.
The key advantage Japhet Tanganga has over Joe Rodon
Tottenham’s defensive woes continued against West Ham United, with Tottenham’s run without a clean sheet this season now standing at nine games.
Jose Mourinho opted for a Toby Alderweireld-Davinson Sanchez partnership on Sunday, with the pair struggling in the face of West Ham’s late comeback.
With Eric Dier unavailable, some called for Mourinho to turn to a different central defender, with plenty of noise for new signing Joe Rodon to get his chance.
However, there’s another unexplored option at the heart of the back-line in the form of Japhet Tanganga, and the academy product may have an advantage over Spurs’ newest arrival.
Rodon’s late arrival from Swansea City means he couldn’t be registered in time to be included in Spurs’ Europa League squad, ensuring that - if Mourinho opts to rotate his squad in Europe - Tanganga will be first in line to step in.
The 21-year-old also has the bonus of being able to fill in at full-back, where he played at times last season, though Spurs have greater depth in the position than they did before the summer.
Tanganga has only played once this season, against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup, but he may have a slight edge over Rodon at present.
