Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs want to bring Dael Fry to the Premier League with the defender shining in the Championship at Middlesbrough.
Jonathan Woodgate must see a lot of himself in young Middlesbrough defender Dael Fry.
At the age of just 22, the sky is the limit for a defender who has risen through the ranks to captain his boyhood club. And in Woodgate, a man who led Boro with distinction himself during two spells at the Riverside, Fry has a manager who believes he can go right to the top of the game.
“Dael Fry is a special player – I’d say he’s the most valuable player at the football club, worth the most money,” Woodgate told the Northern Echo in August, laughing off an £8 million bid from Burnley.
“In the future, I see him being a full England international.”
Just weeks later, Woodgate handed the academy graduate the captain’s armband and he was rewarded by a colossal display in a 2-2 draw with high-flying Bristol City.
“Dael was like a big lighthouse. Absolutely outstanding and he deserved the captain’s armband,” the former England international said in quotes reported by The Gazette.
“I hope he is proud because I have captained Middlesbrough and I was so proud to captain the club. He is a young lad, Berwick Hills born-and-bred and he was outstanding.”
Woodgate’s comments will certainly resonate with Tottenham Hotspur fans as TEAMtalk claim that the North London giants are interested in bringing Fry to the capital. Woodgate is a former Spurs defender after all, the man who’s goal in the 2008 EFL Cup final earned Tottenham their most recent major trophy.
Middlesbrough are apparently concerned that they will have to sell if a bid in excess of £20 million arrives and Fry could potentially replace the ageing Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld, who’s contracts are due to expire at the end of the season.
And while Woodgate would be sorry to see Fry go, he’d surely give Tottenham’s pursuit his seal of approval.
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