Dorrington could benefit from Tottenham’s Europa League rules
Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou submitted his UEFA Europa League squad last week. The 25-man party for the league phase of the competition required eight homegrown players in the roster, four of which needed to be players who have made their way from the academy ranks.
Due to only two such players being available to the manager, he decided to sideline Djen Spence and Sergio Reguilon, with Alfie Dorrington likely to come into the fray once the campaign gets underway.
Club insider Alasdair Gold (via Football London) believes a chance to play in the heart of defence could come knocking for the teenager some time during the eight league matches for Spurs in the Europa League especially as he is highly regarded by the club’s hierarchy and a breakthrough into the first team could be on its verge.
Given how congested the fixture list is this season with the new Europa League format, Tottenham are bound to rest a number of key players when they play in the continental competition, especially during the league phase.
As a result, Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies could play in the backline with Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven rested, so it cannot be ruled out that Alfie Dorrington indeed has a good run of minutes sometime down the line.
The 19-year-old’s chances of featuring for the first team could exponentially increase if Spurs manage to seal qualification into the next round in the early stages of the group phase with their last fixture of the phase coming against a rather easy opponent in Swedish side Elfsborg.
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Spence’s exclusion from the squad, however, is rather unfortunate as Ange Postecoglou was expected to count on the youngster this season and the Europa League would have been a good test for him. A door for the former Genoa star could open in the domestic cups though.
