This summer, Davinson Sanchez arrived at Tottenham Hotspur from Ajax for a reported fee of £28 million plus £14 million in add-ons. The Colombian has been a regular starter since he joined. He has started nine games so far keeping five clean sheets and only conceding five times. At 21-years-old Sanchez is nowhere near his peak and is beginning to look a shrewd accusation by Tottenham.
Davinson Sanchez and Rising Competition at Spurs
Ajax connection
Davinson Sanchez along with fellow center-backs Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld make up a back three who all made their name at Ajax FC in Holland. The Back three have only conceded six times this season, the third best defensive record in the Premier League. Alderweireld and Vertonghen are widely considered world class and the Belgians experience and guidance can only be a positive for a young Davinson Sanchez, Jan Vertonghen recently became Belgium’s all-time leading cap holder.
Davinson Sanchez complacent at times
Sanchez has played Liverpool, Real Madrid, and Borussia Dortmund so far this season. Sanchez looked calm and composed in all of these games. It is odd however that the two games he appeared to struggle in this season have come against the Premier League’s perceived “weaker sides”. Against Swansea and Bournemouth Sanchez looked somewhat “shaken” by the physical nature of his opponents, especially strikers Tammy Abraham and Josh King.
On-loan Tottenham striker Vincent Janssen was the top scorer in Holland in the 2015/16 Dutch Eredivisie season but in the Premier League, he could only manage to score twice in twenty-seven appearances. He remains the Dutch national sides first choice striker. This is a good example of the gulf in class between the two leagues. It’s a cliché but there really is no “easy games” in the Premier league and Sanchez must adapt to that fact and also realize the likes of Abraham and King would be among the top strikers he’d face if he was back in the Netherlands.
Big name signing
In 2015 when Tottenham signed Austrian Kevin Wimmer he was widely considered a “stopgap”. It was widely suggested the club didn’t want to spend big on a center-back who may hinder the development of the then 17-year-old Cameron Carter-Vickers. Two years on Spurs signed another center-back in Davinson Sanchez for what could rise to a club record fee. Sanchez is in no way shape or form a “stop-gap” and is widely considered among the top prospects in world football.
The future of Cameron Carter-Vickers
Added to the fact Eric Dier can also play center-back there is rising competition for places in the Tottenham backline. Carter-Vickers has been loaned out to Sheffield United for the remainder of the season. This doesn’t bode well considering Sanchez is only two years his senior. Jan Vetronghen is the oldest of the clubs center-backs. However, he still looks like he has a good number of years left in him. 28-year-old Toby Alderweireld and 23-year-old Eric Dier also appear to have long futures.
Spurs also completed the signing of highly-rated Argentine defender Juan Foyth. Like Carter-Vickers he is 19 years old. However, Foyth has been in the Tottenham squad this season. He started in the recent League Cup game against Barnsley and also impressed against West Ham. The fact a center-back the same age as the American is featuring for the first team while he is on loan at Sheffield United should concern Carter-Vickers.
The once highly rated American must be considering his long and short-term future at this point. Nearly every player ahead of him is rarely putting a foot wrong these days. They also all have time on their side.
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