Tottenham defender Japhet Tanganga struggles to find his feet at Millwall
Tottenham defender Japhet Tanganga has likely played his final game for the club after struggling to impress on loan with Millwall.
Tanganga will be wondering where it all went wrong.
After bursting onto the scene at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a string of impressive performances under Jose Mourinho, the 24-year-old quickly fell out of favour in North London.
His career has come to a sudden halt with the defender going almost nine months without making a competitive appearance.
After coming off the bench for the final few minutes in a 2-2 draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with Manchester United on 27 April 2023, Tanganga wouldn’t play competitively again until he was brought off the bench for Millwall in a 2-0 loss to QPR in the Championship on 20 January.
He was then handed a start in the 1-1 draw with Preston North End on 27 January, his first competitive start since Spurs were beaten 4-1 by Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on 11 February 2023.
Tanganga spent the first half of the 2023/24 campaign on loan in the Bundesliga with Augsburg but failed to play a single minute in Germany before being recalled and sent on loan to the Lions.
Having played such little football over the past couple of seasons, it seemed fair to give the defender a chance, but his performances in a Millwall shirt only seem to be getting worse.
Tottenham future uncertain for Tanganga
Many Spurs supporters will likely be disappointed by the way things have panned out for Tanganga.
Football fans love to see a player come through the academy and breakthrough into the first team, and it really looked as if Tangana was going to become an important player for the club.
Unfortunately, it is just hard to see any way back for the Englishman under Ange Postecoglou.
Tanganga’s first start for Millwall was by no means a bad one, as he completed 80 per cent of his passes, with one of those key, won 100 per cent of his ground duels and made two tackles and four interceptions (Sofascore).
He also completed 100 per cent of his dribbles in what was the kind of performance which suggested perhaps it is not too late for him to save his Spurs career after all.
However, just like in a Spurs shirt, Tanganga’s form has quickly declined for Millwall.
He was handed a second consecutive start in a 1-0 defeat to Hull on Saturday 3 February, and while he did complete 92 per cent of his passes, he only managed to win two of his seven ground duels on this occasion, while he also failed with his one dribble attempt.
But it was in his third start for the London-based club that he really let himself down.
In a 2-1 defeat away to Coventry on Sunday 11 February, Tanganga gave away a penalty and won just two of his six ground duels and three of his seven aerial duels while also completing just 67 per cent of his passes.
If Postecoglou was watching on, he wouldn’t have been impressed by what he saw.
Off the back of this performance, Tanganga was dropped for the first time since arriving on loan at Millwall for the club’s 4-0 loss at the Den to promotion hopefuls Ipswich Town on Wednesday 14 February.
With an option for Spurs to move the defender on this summer, it is probably best for all parties involved if Tangnga makes a fresh start at a new club where he will be guaranteed regular football.
In other Tottenham news, the club could regret their decision to let one Under-21 star leave North London.
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