Academy centre-back praises Alderweireld

Young academy centre-back Japhet Tanganga has been inspired by our Belgian international Toby Alderweireld.

The 17-year-old (18 in March) England Under-18 international is a regular starter for Spurs' Under-18 team and has made two appearances from the bench for Spurs' Premier League 2 side as well as being selected four times in the UEFA Youth League.

Place of birth: Hackney
Country: England
Club: Tottenham ( ENG)

UEFA competition debut:
Club: UEFA Youth League (Group stage)
18/10/16: Leverkusen 3-1 Tottenham
National team: UEFA European Under-17 Championship (Elite round)
24/03/16: England 3-1 Turkey
Wikipedia tell us that Tanganga joined Tottenham as an Under-11. In August 2014 and was voted MVP when Tottenham won the South Korea Cup, an Under-16 tournament, which included teams such as Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund. 

He made his youth team debut as an Under-16 during 2014-15, going on to make a total of five appearances in the campaign. Japhet impressed in central defence, Tottenham's Under-18 team kept clean sheets in four of the five games Tanganga started.

"He's very comfortable in possession, good at long and short-range passing. I think he defends well and he reads the game really early. I think that's something you need as a footballer. 

"He's very sharp and that's why I'd say he's one of the best defenders in Europe right now. I've seen him training and he's always alert, always knows what he's going to do and I'd like to be like that one day so I look up to him because of all that he does. 

"There are two things actually - one is his ability to read the game early. He spots things, senses danger really well and manages to help out his team-mates as a result. 

"Secondly, he's a goalscorer, a real threat in the opposition's box and I'd like to score goals as frequently as he does. Those are two things I'd like to emulate.
"I really like how he's able to adapt to different formations. He can fit into a different system and still do his job really well and you could say he's versatile in the sense that he's pretty much playing centre-half, just in a slightly different area sometimes when we have three at the back. 

"Since he's been at the club I think he's helped Jan Vertonghen, their defensive partnership is one of the best in Europe. I think he helped Cameron Carter-Vickers last week in the FA Cup and Kevin Wimmer too, so he's a big factor and a welcome influence in defence."