Jose Mourinho has labelled the currently injured Japhet Tanganga as ‘very unlucky’ and told Football.London that the Tottenham defender has a ‘great sense of responsibility’ about him.
The 21-year-old was injured following Tottenham’s League Cup victory over Chelsea and Mourinho shared that his injury problems started ‘before lockdown’ and despite returning to action through hard work it has reared it’s ugly head again.
Tanganga made a breakthrough campaign in North London last season, with Mourinho playing him across the backline despite his young age and inexperience.
He won’t feature for Spurs in their Europa League encounter tonight, but Mourinho had this to say about the highly-rated youngster.
“Tanganga is the only player we really say has an injury or is in treatment from quite an important injury,” said Mourinho.
“Very unlucky kid, he had a problem from before lockdown, then hard work to get back, played Chelsea in the cup and then this injury.
“But he’s coming. Great professional, great sense of responsibility and he’s working well to come back.”
Mourinho now has great depth at the back, with the likes of Joe Rodon and Matt Doherty joining the club this summer.
Whilst Spurs are stacked in the centre-back department, it doesn’t mean that Tanganga will see his game time reduced because he has been also used at fullback by Mourinho, so it will be interesting to see how he is used once he is able to get back to his best.
A player with great aerial prowess and technical ability, the future looks bright for the Englishmen and he has the right manager to coach him to the top.
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