Tottenham shocker: Kevin Wimmer looks to be leaving Spurs

Something is wrong with Tottenham centre back Kevin Wimmer

Kevin Wimmer had an excellent first season with Tottenham. He seemed like he would be a big part of Mauricio Pochettino’s plans moving forward. Unfortunately now, it seems likely that the Austrian International will be leaving White Hart Lane this summer.

My belief that Wimmer is set to leave the club is based on a mountain of circumstantial evidence. As a passionate Spurs supporter I dearly hope that I’m wrong. Wimmer is a talented young defender who could grow into a starting role with Spurs for the next decade. Unfortunately, the warning signs are significant that he’ll never get that opportunity.

Don’t think that my opinion on Wimmer’s impending departure just stems from today’s rumor of Tottenham interest in Eliaquim Mangala. My concerns about Wimmer began several weeks ago.

The fact that he never played a second of preseason football was the beginning of my worries. Given the absence of Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen for those matches, it was only logical to assume that Wimmer would play significant minutes. Instead, he missed the one match he was slated to start due to a “black eye.”

That seems to be a rather odd injury to keep a centre back out of action. Sure, he might miss one match with such an ailment, but it forced him out of all preseason action. That struck me as an excuse to make sure he avoided an injury that might hurt his market value.

In the interest of fairness I must point out that Wimmer was also involved in the Euros. Some may believe he was being rested due to his international duty. The truth is, he didn’t play much for Austria during the competition and shouldn’t have needed much rest.

Initially, I hoped that Wimmer was either carrying a more significant knock than the club let on, or that he was being punished for some sort of behavioral transgression. Either of those possibilities would have been preferable to what I now see as his probable sale.

If he does go, it’ll be a real shame. The club committed to him with a new five-year-deal this offseason and his game had clearly progressed under Pochettino. It makes you really wonder why he’d want to leave Spurs.