Carroll may have to leave to develop

Tom Carroll has yet to make his mark at Spurs and he has been overtaken by Dele Alli in the pecking order.

If Tottenham want to be a top four club and players want to play for us then we must be ruthless and they must find a way to express themselves with our system. You have to perform your role, take your opportunity when it comes and make your individual mark, just in the way Dele Alli has.

A club like Tottenham can not develop every youngster to their full potential, some you have to let go to get more opportunity and blossom elsewhere. That is hard for fans who then question why that player was then let go, they forget another was being developed that restricted his progress.

Tom Carroll may be one of the players we have to let go, he hasn't stamped his mark on any game and debate rages as to his best position, defensive midfield playmaker or as the central attacking midfielder charged with unlocking the opposition defence. Either way he needs chances and unless we have a spate of injuries it's hard to see how he is going to get suficient game time to develop as some think he can.

He had a loan spell at Swansea, whom we play today and Gary Monk felt he was a very good prospect. How long do you remain a prospect though. I suspect this is his last season at Tottenham unless he finds a way to make his mark on games, that takes a mental toughness, a determination that may be lacking.

“Tom did great, I really enjoyed working with him and he’s a really good prospect. I spoke to him at the end of the season about coming here and of course, we were interested. But I think it was a case that he really wanted to go back there and see if he could work his way into the first team. You’ve seen already this season that he’s been involved in the first-team set-up and that’s credit to him.”

There comes a point when you need to be playing regularly to develop further and Carroll has probably reached that point. Both Swansea and Aston Villa, manager by former interim Tottenham boss Tim Sherwood, made enquiries for him and may well come back in January to enquire again. he will be the subject of interest in the summer if he does stay until then.

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