People up and down the country will be working on their New Year’s resolutions, and Radu Dragusin has one of his own, which involves his position at Tottenham Hotspur.
Radu Dragusin has not had things easy since he made the move to Tottenham Hotspur nearly two years ago. The central defender struggled for game time at first and failed to impress when he did receive minutes.
Dragusin became important to Spurs under Ange Postecoglou because of the host of injuries which affected the Tottenham first-team squad. However, the Romanian’s performances were often met by criticism, until he suffered an ACL injury in January, which saw him ruled out for the rest of the season.
Since then, Dragusin has spent almost a year on the sidelines, and he only made his long-awaited competitive return last Sunday in the 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace.
Radu Dragusin wants to become a regular starter again at Tottenham
Many months passed before Dragusin was able to kick a ball again, and he has described the experience as the ‘biggest challenge’ of his life.
He told Tottenham Hotspur: “It’s been a long journey, the biggest challenge of my life. I just kept going. I had people next to me who helped me, my teammates, my family, and my fiancé.
“I knew the road was going to be long, but I knew there was going to be a light at the end of it. Today, I’ve seen the light. I can’t even describe the feeling I’m having.
MORE SPURS STORIES
“I miss this feeling, I miss this atmosphere, the fans, and my team-mates on the pitch. I miss the football. I’m just so happy right now,” he said, reflecting on the post-match scenes.
“I couldn’t ask for anything better. My family was here, and as I said, we won. I think it’s the best comeback I could have ever done.”
Dragusin is delighted to be back playing for Tottenham and he has laid down his ambitions for the coming year. He said: “I learned to have patience and believe in doing the right things over and over again,” the centre-back continued.
“A big part of my recovery was just doing the same things over and over again, just to get better at it and have a normal knee again.
“It looks easy, but it’s a pretty big thing that the surgeon did in my knee. So, just to come back from that and perform at the level the Premier League asks you to perform, it takes time.
“I’m just hoping to come back onto the pitch and fight for my place. Hopefully, this year is going to be an even better one than 2025 for us as a team.”
Dragusin faces a lot of competition at Spurs
Although Dragusin saw plenty of starts last season, this was due to an unprecedented injury crisis at the club. Whereas now, there are plenty of players competing in the centre of defence for Tottenham.
Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven are still the firm favourites to start whenever they are available, and Kevin Danso has played well when called upon.
If Dragusin is to have any chance of regularly featuring for Spurs, he will need to up his game and deliver performances which are levels above what he has shown up to this point.