Tottenham: Destiny Udogie named in Premier League Team of the Season by Robbie Savage
Destiny Udogie has received yet more plaudits for his performances this season in a Tottenham shirt after being named in Robbie Savage’s Team of the Season.
Savage hailed Udogie, a £15million signing from Udinese in 2022, as the best left-back in the Premier League in his column for The Mirror’s online edition [12 April].
The Italy international may have his shortcomings, as pointed out by Nemanja Vidic after the win over Nottingham Forest, but his strengths certainly outweigh the weaknesses.
“In the cult of Ange Postecoglou’s revamp at Spurs, Udogie’s performances at left-back have been one of the biggest revelations,” former Premier League stalwart Savage wrote.
“I’ve really enjoyed his sense of adventure from left-back, often supplementing Big Ange’s front four and helping Tottenham to camp around the opposition box.”
Who has played most minutes for Tottenham in 2023-24?
Udogie’s importance to Postecoglou is reflected in the number of minutes he has played in the Premier League this season (2,308), with only Son Heung-min (2,352) and Pedro Porro (2,518) used more among Spurs’ outfielders [WhoScored].
The 21-year-old understandably catches the eye in an attacking sense, having scored twice and assisted three more this season, but he can also do a job defensively.
Indeed, his 2.5 tackles per game is bettered only by Pedro Porro (2.9) and Yves Bissouma (three), while his 1.3 interceptions per game is bettered only by – again – Bissouma with 1.4.
Udogie’s pass success percentage of 87 for the season may only be the 11th highest of Spurs players still at the club to have started a league game this term, yet it is still a more than reasonable figure.
In fact, Udogie’s 85.3 per cent passing accuracy over the past 12 months places him in the top nine per cent of all full-backs across Europe’s top five leagues, as per FBref.
Destiny Udogie can still improve at Tottenham
The one metric the Italian stands out in more than any other is for progressive carries, defined as carrying the ball 10 yards or more towards the opponent’s goal, as he is in the top eight per cent.
Postecoglou deserves huge credit for what he has done with both Udogie and Pedro Porro on the opposite flank, with the pair as influential as ever against Forest last time out.
In that game, Udogie was successful with his only dribble attempt, completed 89 per cent of his passes (40 out of 45) and also registered one key pass [Sofascore].
And while he is already the best around in his position in the view of Savage, there is no reason why the versatile defender cannot continue to get even better under Postecoglou at Spurs.
In other Tottenham news, a first-team regular could be dropped for the game with Newcastle United after what happened last week.
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