FOR someone who does not even have his own locker at Tottenham, Japhet Tanganga has already shown he has a lot in it.
The defender followed up his outstanding Premier League debut in the defeat to Liverpool on Saturday with another impressive display in Tuesday’s FA Cup win over Middlesbrough.
Japhet Tanganga has got off to a flying start to his career at Spurs – but doesn’t even have his own locker yet
Tanganga was named Man of the Match during Spurs’ win over BoroCredit: Getty
Tanganga, 20, is already being tipped as a future England international.
Not bad for a player so new to first-team football it is believed he does not even have his own locker in the Spurs dressing room yet.
And when asked if that was true, he said: “I don’t know if I can say that. That’s for you to find out from someone else.”
So it is true then! The Hackney-born hot prospect added: “My job is to just keep working with the first team and the manager wants to do what he wants to do.
“It’s up to him. At the moment my focus is to keep working, keep getting opportunities to play and try to establish myself in the team.
“Hopefully, the manager will keep encouraging me and keep working with me to allow me to do that.”
Tanganga is living the dream at Tottenham — which is just as well because he has hardly slept a wink this week.
He said: “Have I had to pinch myself? A bit, yeah. Obviously after the Liverpool game people were congratulating me for my debut but I just wanted to move on to the next one.
“Thankfully, the gaffer gave me the opportunity to play against Middlesbrough, make my FA Cup debut and, again, it was just a great feeling.
“I’m just really happy with all the support and encouragement I’ve got from everyone. It’s just been absolutely great.
“Obviously, the result against Liverpool wasn’t good but my FA Cup debut was a better result. We won and we’re through.”
Despite the 1-0 defeat at home to the Kop, Tanganga acquitted himself well against the runaway Premier League leaders and their formidable frontmen, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.
Asked if he was nervous ahead of his top-flight bow, he admitted: “Leading up to it, yeah. A couple of times I barely slept.
“But as a footballer, no matter if it’s your debut, you’ve got to concentrate. You’re out there to do a job.
“There’s a reason the manager chose me and he wants me to do a certain job — so I can’t be thinking about the nerves.
“As soon as I got in the tunnel, I was fine. On the day I was OK. No nerves, I was OK.
“Mane’s the African Player of the Year. He’s a great player, Salah’s a great player. But leading up to the game, the boys were just encouraging me.
“They were telling me, ‘Son Heung-min’s a great player as well and you come up against him in training.
“‘Harry Kane, Lucas Moura — they’re top players, so you’ve just got to handle them the way you’ve been doing in training.
“’You’re doing it every day, so you should be able to handle it’.”
After starring at centre-back against the Reds, Tanganga — whose only previous senior appearance for Spurs came in the Carabao Cup defeat at Colchester in September — was deployed as an attacking right-back in Tuesday night’s 2-1 win over Boro.
He said: “I haven’t played right-back for a while but if the manager needs me to do a job — left-back, right-back, midfield — I’ll do it
“I’m comfortable on the ball, I’m comfortable doing a job wherever the manager needs me. I want to work for the team.”
Boss Jose Mourinho publicly praised the youngster’s terrific start — but what has he said to him in private?
The star revealed: “He said, ‘Well done for Liverpool but just keep working. Keep your head down, keep working for your next opportunity. Stay humble, grounded and keep working’.
“I’ve been at Tottenham for a long time, since I was ten and they’ve helped me a lot. This club is fantastic, the staff, the coaches, everyone here has helped me so much.
“It means a lot to me, having been with them for so long. Of course I’d love to stay with them as long as I can and go on until I retire.
“But that’s for the club to deal with and for me to focus on the pitch and deliver as much as I possibly can.”
Jose Mourinho wants Porto’s Ze Luis as Harry Kane replacement at Tottenham
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
