‘It beggars belief’ – Jim White shocked by Tottenham star reveal as Simon Jordan demands answers over ‘serious stuff’
Jim White has expressed his shock after Tottenham’s Destiny Udogie was named as the player allegedly threatened by an agent at gunpoint.
The full-back played 73 minutes as Tottenham beat Copenhagen 4-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday night, with Micky van de Ven’s stunning goal drawing reactions from Virgil van Dijk and more.
It then emerged that Italian international Udogie was involved in an incident on a busy North London street last month.
According to The Telegraph the public “row” escalated after he chose not to use the agent’s services. The agent cannot be named for legal reasons and was later arrested.
Tottenham released a statement saying: “We have been providing support for Destiny and his family since the incident and will continue to do so. Given this is a legal matter, we cannot comment any further.”
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Simon Jordan and Danny Murphy have both reacted with less surprise than White given there own dealings with agents in the past not being entirely positive.
Destiny Udogie named as Tottenham player threatened with gun
Meanwhile the Metropolitan Police said in their own statement: “Police were called at 23.14hrs on Saturday, September 6, to reports a man in his twenties had been threatened with a firearm on Cockfosters Parade, Barnet.
“Officers spoke to the victim and during the course of their investigation it was also reported another man in his twenties had also allegedly been blackmailed and threatened by the same individual. No injuries were reported in either incident.
“A 31-year-old man was arrested on Monday, September 8 on suspicion of possession of firearms with intent, blackmail and driving without a licence. He has been bailed while enquiries continue.”
Discussing the latest developments live on talkSPORT White said: “Simon, it beggars belief that anything like this can happen, and Danny this is one for you as well, are young players today in football at bigger threat from hangers-on than ever before?”
Murphy said he wasn’t shocked to hear of the incident and indicated that there have long been issues with young players and representatives.
Jordan then claimed it would be “interesting” to hear which agency the accused belongs to, then cited the “murky little pool” which agents operate in, before later warming up to his initial argument and continuing: “I wanna know which agency this agent’s a part of, because if it’s a big agency I wanna hear what they have to say about the conduct of their agents...
“It’s not my hobby horse to have a go at agents but the fact of the matter is if you operate within the confines of a business and you behave in this way then the business has to be accountable…
“I wanna see who the agency are and I wanna see what their response to it is, because I want football agents accountable, and I want big football agencies accountable for the people that work within it, because this is serious stuff.”
Tottenham back on track after Champions League win
Whatever transpires to have occurred involving Udogie hardly sounds conducive to maintaining complete focus on his football.
But while splitting time at left-back with Djed Spence in recent weeks the Italian has featured nine times in all competitions since the incident, and Spurs haven’t lost any of the four games he’s started.
That suggests that he hasn’t been personally thrown off too much but he surely requires the support his club have indicated.
The team’s form overall has been increasingly inconsistent, however, so the win in Europe on Tuesday, and particularly the manner of it, was very welcome for Thomas Frank and his players.
But it will mean little if they don’t follow it up with another good performance against Man United at the weekend, ahead of the North London derby on the other side of the international break.