£21m Tottenham player says Ange Postecoglou may be playing him in wrong position

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Tottenham Hotspur left-back Destiny Udogie has suggested he may have been deployed incorrectly by Ange Postecoglou.

The Italian finally arrived in north London in the summer having been sent back to Udinese on a season-long loan following his signing in 2022.

And it is probably fair to say Destiny Udogie has been nothing short of a revelation at left-back this term under the guidance of Ange Postecoglou.

Udogie questions his role

When we signed Udogie for £21m, we had Antonio Conte at the helm and he was accustomed to playing with wing-backs.

This saw the likes of Udogie and Ivan Perisic signed with a vision of the formation sticking for years to come.

However, Postecoglou’s arrival saw that change very quickly with the return for a four-man defence being implemented at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

This will have affected both Pedro Porro and Udogie who were both used to playing as wing-backs with their previous clubs, and the Italian has spoken to Gazzetta dello Sport about just this: “The defending skills I learned in Italy are helping me here,” said Udogie.

“I don’t know if it’s the perfect role for me as I am not accustomed to it, but I often find myself in [attacking] position and I am starting to fit in.”

Udogie injury update

These comments come just as news has broken about the 21-year-old’s injury issue which will see him miss the game against Wolves on Saturday.

Udogie has been a key part of Postecoglou’s starting XI since they both landed in north London, so hopefully it is just the one game he will miss.

But it is interesting to hear Udogie talk about perhaps playing slightly out of his comfort zone under the Australian.

There have been times when he has made defensive mistakes, but you could put that down to a lack of experience.

However, with the arrival of Radu Dragusin – who is yet to start – it would be interesting to see whether Postecoglou would consider adjusting to three at the back.

The Australian is clearly very impressed with the Romanian in training and has some experience of playing a three-man defence from his time in Japan.

This could allow Dragusin an opportunity to finally become a starter at Spurs, but also allow Udogie to revert back to his favoured position and potentially make him even more influential in attack.