Jose Mourinho says rarely-seen Spurs player had ‘good possibilities’ to go out on loan

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Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho has admitted that Japhet Tanganga had some “good possibilities” to go out on loan in January.

According to The Athletic, the Spurs academy graduate was on the radar of Premier League duo Southampton and West Bromwich Albion, plus Scottish outfit Celtic.

However, Mourinho did not allow Tanganga to leave ahead of the January transfer window shutting, claimed the report.

Tottenham have submitted their 25-man Europa League squad for the rest of the campaign, and Tanganga made the cut, with Joe Rodon once again missing out.

Mourinho said his decision was made largely out of respect for those who started the competition, while also revealing how there was interest in the 21-year-old.

“We kept Tanganga in spite of good possibilities the kid had to go out on loan,” Mourinho told football.london.

“We kept him because then Tanganga, Davinson Sanchez, Dier, Alderweireld. We have to do (the EL knockout stage) without Rodon.”

Spurs will take on Austria’s Wolfsberg in the Round of 32 with the first leg on February 18 and the second leg at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium six days later.

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Tanganga was very much one of Tottenham’s success stories during a difficult 2019-20 campaign, making his first-team breakthrough and looking like a future regular.

Mourinho is a big fan, having described his debut against Liverpool as “fantastic” and saying he did “amazingly”.

Injuries have sadly hampered his progress this term, but he’s now fit again and still not getting much game time, so you can understand why some clubs wanted to try their luck.

At the same time, Spurs’ defence has been shaky in recent weeks, both centrally and on the flanks.

And in the Europa League, Mourinho is more likely to give more game time to fringe players, so Tanganga is surely in line for some minutes in the coming weeks.