Championship club chasing Tottenham centre back
Cameron Carter-Vickers probably doesn’t have what it takes to make it at Tottenham, but another loan to Ipswich Town would be good for him.
In a perfect world, Cameron Carter-Vickers would be ready to serve as one of Tottenham’s top reserves this season. Unfortunately, he just hasn’t developed enough to earn that spot in Mauricio Pochettino’s squad. As such, another loan for the American international is probably the best thing.
Fortunately, Ipswich Town appear to be interested in taking him on again. He played 17 matches for the Championship club last season and evidently he played well enough to impress the higher-ups at the club. Assuming they are willing to give Tottenham assurances about Carter-Vickers getting significant playing time, Ipswich Town should be successful in bringing him back for another loan.
For Spurs, this might be more about promoting the defender’s potential transfer value than preparing him to adjust to life in the Premier League. Carter-Vickers isn’t a bad player, but nothing about him is really prepared to help a club challenging for Champions League football. He looks destined to play at an upper level Championship or lower level Premier League side for the foreseeable future.
Carter-Vickers deserves credit for being a pretty competent defender. He doesn’t have ideal height for a world-class centre back, but he makes up for that with excellent positioning. The 20-year-old also has enough strength to battle with most attackers who try to push him around in the box.
Obviously he can’t really do much about his height. It’s not as if he’s going to experience a massive growth spurt in the near future. What Carter-Vickers can do to improve his value is improve his skill on the ball. His only real chance to play for Tottenham is to show Pochettino and company that he can become an excellent distributor from the back. Carter-Vickers would need to show Toby Alderweireld-level passing to stick at Tottenham for the long run.
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Ultimately, Tottenham need to provide Carter-Vickers another solid loan to give other clubs a chance to evaluate him. Even if he goes to Ipswich and plays well this season, his future almost certainly lies away from Hotspur Way. He isn’t out of chances with Spurs, but he’s pretty close.