Ben Davies was clearly Jose Mourinho’s preferred choice at left-back but has he been good enough?
Tottenham Hotspur allowed Danny Rose to join Newcastle United on a six-month loan deal in the January transfer window.
The Englishman played over 200 times for Spurs and was almost always the first-choice left-back at the club. However, since Jose Mourinho’s arrival, Rose started just once in the Premier League and he quickly knew that he didn’t have a future under the new boss.
Ben Davies’ return from injury was great news for Mourinho, who seemed to be a fan of his since his first game in charge as Tottenham manager.
The Welshman has now started each of Tottenham’s last four games in all competitions and his performances have been underwhelming, to say the least.
In those matches, Davies lost possession 67 times, 46 of those coming in the defeats to Chelsea and Wolves. His average passing accuracy in the two games is just over 64%, which is simply not good enough for a player in a team aiming to be among the league’s best. (SofaScore)
Rose averages more interceptions, tackles, key passes and crosses per game than Davies in the top flight and the Newcastle loanee is certainly a better fit in a wing-back role that Mourinho has been using recently.
Could Spurs have held on to Rose until the summer before making a definitive call on the 29-year-old’s future? Mourinho had that chance and he passed on the opportunity and Davies’ recent struggles could make the Tottenham boss regret his decision.
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