Tottenham Hotspur’s defensive stocks are in shambles. Thanks to poor squad construction, a multitude of injuries, and exhaustion due to fixture congestion, the Spurs backline is held together by a combination of toothpicks, duct tape, and prayers in its current state.
This is why a recall of young defender Ashley Phillips from his loan at Stoke City may be on the cards:
Dan Kilpatrick at the London Evening Standard published this report yesterday, confirming the presence of a recall clause in January (which I imagine is pretty boilerplate for loan deals) and indicating that Spurs are “considering” recalling the teenage center back.
“Considering” isn’t exactly strong language from DankP, and is definitely not confirmation this is going to happen - but you can understand why the Tottenham brass may be thinking about this as an option. Spurs currently have one fit center back in Radu Dragusin, with Ben Davies, Cristian Romero, and Micky van de Ven all out with varying recovery timelines. Archie Gray, the young fullback/midfielder/wherever the hell Ange wants to play him is also an option at CB, filling in at the back in Spurs’ midweek European match at Rangers, but is arguably required to cover fullback and midfield as well with Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie running out of steam and Rodrigo Bentancur suspended.
A young center back (who by all accounts has comported himself well across his loans with Plymouth Argyle and Stoke) with over a season of senior minutes under his belt therefore could be just the ticket to aid Spurs in this time of crisis.
But is it the right move?
Phillips wouldn’t be able to return to the club until January. That is arguably too late to make an impact: by that time, Rodrigo Bentancur will have completed his suspension, and Ben Davies and Micky van de Ven will be nearing their returns from injury with 3-week layoffs expected. Cristian Romero is predicted to be out longer, with a 6-week window mooted, but even taking a conservative view of that timeline only takes us to around the end of January, and in the (unlikely) case that all four CBs end up fit for the rest of the season Phillips will find minutes extremely hard to come by - minutes that are key at this stage of his development.
Additionally, if Phillips was recalled, he wouldn’t be able to then go back out on loan again with FIFA regulations stipulating you can only play official matches for two clubs in a single season. He actually couldn’t even be registered in Spurs’ European squad, unless there is a significant squad reshuffle - the timing of his signing from Blackburn means he does not yet qualify for List B and has to be included on List A.
For these reasons, I’d say it’s unlikely Phillips is recalled; but I don’t envy Johan Lange in making this decision. The implications could be huge, both for Tottenham Hotspur’s season and Ashley Phillip’s career.