Tottenham must make Japhet Tanganga transfer decision amid struggle on Millwall debut
On-loan Tottenham defender Japhet Tanganga has had a 2023/24 campaign to forget so far.
It had been nine months since Tanganga last played a competitive match when he came off the bench to make his debut for Millwall in their 2-0 defeat away against QPR in the Championship on Saturday 20 January.
Before this, the defender’s last competitive appearance came during Spurs’ 2-2 draw at home against Manchester United on Thursday 27 April 2023, when he replaced Son Heung-min for the final few minutes of the match.
After starting a pre-season clash for Ange Postecoglou against West Ham (18 July 2023), the Australian clearly decided Tanganga was not for him.
The 24-year-old struggled that day as Spurs’ London rivals beat them 3-2 in Perth. Playing in a back two alongside Cristian Romero, Tanganga won just one of his five ground duels and lost his one aerial duel before he was replaced at half-time along with the majority of the team (Sofascore).
He was sent out on loan to Bundesliga outfit Augsburg for the first half of the 2023/24 campaign but was recalled to North London this month after not playing a single minute of football in Germany (Tottenham Hotspur Official Website, 18 January).
Tanganga has now joined up with Millwall for the rest of the season (Tottenham Hotspur Official Website, 18 January) where he was thrown straight into a matchday squad for the Lions just two days after joining the club.
Joe Edwards, who coached Spurs’ academy graduate at youth level for England, named the defender on the bench and introduced him with 22 minutes left to play at Loftus Road and his side trailing 1-0.
Tanganga would have been keen to make an immediate impression after spending such a long time on the sidelines, although he failed to do this during his time on the pitch, losing out in his one ground duel, winning just 50 per cent of his aerial duels and completing just 67 per cent of his passes, while also watching his team concede another as they would go on to lose 2-0.
Although he perhaps deserves to be cut some slack considering it was his first competitive appearance in almost a year, it is clear that the defender isn’t going to make it at Tottenham, with his poor passing numbers against QPR particularly alarming considering Postecoglou’s need for ball-playing defenders.
Tanganga will be keen to turn his fortunes around at Millwall and prove to those back in North London that he still has something to offer, but at this point, it seems unlikely, and a permanent solution for the defender’s future should be on the agenda during the summer.
In other Tottenham news, one pundit has disagreed with what Manchester United legend Roy Keane said about Spurs.
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