Ex-West Ham United and Scotland midfielder Don Hutchinson has admitted that he has been left with Destiny Udogie’s performances for Tottenham Hotspur so far this season.
Tottenham completed a £15 million deal to sign Udogie from Udinese in August of last year with the left-back remaining at the Serie A outfit for the 2022/23 campaign as part of the agreement which was brokered by the club’s former managing director of football Fabio Paratici (Sky Sports).
Hutchinson revealed that he had watched Udogie on more than one occasion while the 20-year-old was playing for Udinese and while he recognised he was a good player, the Scotsman did not see him stand out with his performances.
(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
A solid start for Destiny Udogie at Tottenham
Udogie was handed the starting left-back position by new head coach Antonio Conte earlier this summer and has repaid the Australian with a solid start to his Spurs career which saw the North Londoners top the Premier League table prior to the international break.
“Udogie, I think, has been amazing,” Hutchinson told ESPN.
“I saw him when he was at Udinese quite a few times. And I thought he was good, wasn’t a standout player. But now, he’s come back to Spurs and been amazing.”
Udogie’s performances for Tottenham caught the eye of Luciano Spalletti, who handed the youngster his first senior cap for Italy on Saturday as a late substitute in their 4-0 win over Malta.
SpursWeb Opinion
The left-back position had been a problem area for Tottenham in recent years with Ryan Sessegnon failing to live up to the hype with a series of injuries and has struggled to perform on a consistent basis, especially when in and out of the starting eleven.
Ben Davies is a solid defender but in fairness to the Welshman, does not threaten the opposition with any intent when in the attacking half of the pitch. Ivan Perisic‘s left wing-back role under Antonio Conte failed to work out with the Croatian having looked a better option further up the pitch this season until his season was cruelly cut short due to an ACL injury.
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