Tottenham Hotspur players will be returning from International duty this week and a big performance is need against West Ham United.
Premier League action returns this weekend and Tottenham Hotspur fans may be in two minds.
On the one hand, Premier League action is certainly more exciting than international games.
On the other, Tottenham suffered the worst defeat of the Ange Postecoglou era before the break.
Spurs went 2-0 up at Brighton and Hove Albion before collapsing in the second half to lose 3-2.
Fans will be a little anxious to see whether Tottenham players hit back in style from that defeat or suffer a hangover, even after being away on international duty.
Tottenham Hotspur player urged to leave
A number of Spurs players have been in action in this international break with Dejan Kulusevski impressing for Sweden.
Radu Dragusin has featured for Romania too, even scoring in the 3-0 win over Cyprus.
Tottenham fans loved seeing Dragusin score and even want him to receive more opportunities in the first team.
Romanian pundit Gica Craioveanu haș now offered his verdict on Dragusin – and urged him to leave Tottenham in January.
Craioveanu is a former Romanian international himself and told Digisport that Dragusin faces a ‘difficult’ task breaking into the Spurs team.
Craioveanu added that he thinks Dragusin needs to leave Tottenham on loan, play games elsewhere and then turn to Spurs to try and kick on with his career.
“At Tottenham it will be very difficult to get into the first 11,” said Craioveanu. “Tottenham’s starting defenders are in very good form, they are very good.
“I think he should go to a club where he can play, then return to Tottenham,” he added.
- READ MORE: Tottenham confirmed signings, transfer ins and outs, loans and releases for 2024 summer window
Radu Dragusin knew what he was signing up for
We can understand why Romanian pundits are concerned about Dragusin.
Their star centre back and potentially the key man in their back line for years to come is struggling for first-team football.
They want to see Dragusin playing, thriving and developing but are left fearing that his progress is stalling at Tottenham.
Ultimately though, Dragusin knew exactly what he was signing up for when he left Genoa for Tottenham in a £21.5million deal back in January.
Tottenham already had Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, so Dragusin was coming in as competition for both players at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
When all three centre backs are fully fit, Romero and Van de Ven will get the nod.
Dragusin is looking to put as much pressure as possible on Romero and Van de Ven though, making sure he is the next man up.
Maybe one of them picks up an injury, perhaps one of them ends up being sold; Dragusin wants to be the next man Tottenham turn to rather than another new signing.
Receive a digest of our best Spurs content each week direct to your mailbox
