Kyle Walker-Peters needs to leave Tottenham in January
There’s little question that Kyle Walker-Peters is talented enough to play first team football for Tottenham right now. Unfortunately, he’s currently the club’s third choice right back behind Kieran Trippier and Serge Aurier. That’s exactly why he needs a January loan to further his career.
Fortunately for the English starlet, there are a host of clubs interested in taking him. Swansea are currently the most high-profile suitor. Moving to the Swans would allow Walker-Peters to gain meaningful Premier League experience on the Welsh club’s dime. Mauricio Pochettino may not like to send his high-end talent out on loan, but it’s the right call in this case.
Perhaps if Spurs were still alive in all of their Cup competitions things would be different. Unfortunately, the club’s nightmare second half against West Ham knocked them out of the Carabao Cup. That likely would have been Walker-Peters’ best hope of important first team action moving forward.
It’s possible that he could crack the lineup in the club’s remaining Champions League group stage matches, but he would again be frozen out of the squad during the Knockout stage. Past that, it would require injury or a favourable FA Cup draw to place him into Pochettino’s starting XI.
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Players of his age need meaningful match time to develop. It’s obvious he won’t get much of that at Tottenham this season. Swansea, or another Premier League club, could be an excellent laboratory to further his development.
Perhaps the more interesting question is what Tottenham will do with Walker-Peters in the long-term. Neither Trippier or Aurier is close to an age where their physical gifts are going to start to decline. Walker-Peters is going to have a very difficult time knocking either of them out of Pochettino’s match day squad over the next several seasons.
On the other hand, Pochettino is one of the few Premier League managers who is willing to hand Academy talents playing time if they earn it in training. Walker-Peters may not be favoured to dislodge either of the veterans ahead of him, but he’ll have every opportunity to pull the upset.
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Whether or not he will be able to make his name at Tottenham over the long haul is a question for another day. The question for where he should play in January is much more obvious. A Premier League loan would be ideal for Walker-Peters’ career development.