Kevin Wimmer believes he suffered from misfortune during his time at Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur, telling Transfermarkt that he had ‘the most underrated central defender in the world’ ahead of him in Mauricio Pochettino’s pecking order.
Now, he certainly has a point.
During the 2016/17 season, in which Wimmer made just five league appearances, Spurs had statistically the finest, most watertight defence in the whole of the competition.
With Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen at their peerless peak (conceding just 26 times en route to a second-place finish behind Antonio Conte’s Chelsea), Wimmer had little choice but to sit on the bench and wait for a chance.
A chance that would never arrive.
Kevin Wimmer spent just two Premier League seasons at Tottenham Hotspur
“I was incredibly lucky to have been on a team with Jan Vertonghen. And, at the same time, (I had) the unbelievable bad luck that he was my competitor. For me, he was the most underrated central defender in the world at his best,” says Wimmer, who arrived as a 22-year-old from Bundesliga outfit FC Koln in the summer of 2015.
“You often benefit from a bad phase or an injury to your team-mate (before getting a chance to start). Neither of those things happened during my time at Tottenham.”
Despite making just 13 Premier League starts in two years at the London giants, Tottenham still made a massive profit on the Austria international when they accepted an £18 million bid from Stoke City in 2017.
Things certainly didn’t go to plan for Wimmer in the capital. But the now-29-year-old still looks back on his time at Tottenham with a great deal of fondness.
“With the move, an absolute dream had come true for me. I didn’t want to let such an incredible opportunity pass,” says Wimmer, now back in Austria with Rapid Vienna.
“Tottenham was a different size to Koln. Suddenly, you were sitting in the dressing room next to real superstars that you normally only know from the PlayStation. During every training session, I just thought: ‘Wow, how strong are they!’”
Wimmer has had spells at Hannover, Mouscron and Karlsruher since leaving England.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
