‘Pleasure for me to work with’: Jose Mourinho raves about ‘brilliant’ 6ft 2in Spurs ace

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Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho has spoken highly of Jan Vertonghen amid continued uncertainty over the Belgian’s future at Spurs.

Vertonghen’s contract is as set to run out at the end of the season and, although he penned an extension to cover the rescheduled Premier League fixtures, his future beyond then is unclear.

The 33-year-old has been with Tottenham since the summer of 2012, when he joined from Ajax for a reported £9.5million.

Vertonghen has started just 19 league games this season and just one since the restart in June, but was used from the bench in Wednesday’s victory over Newcastle United.

With the 2019-20 season now drawing to a close, Sunday’s meeting with Leicester City at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium could be Vertonghen’s last home game for the club.

Mourinho refused to shed any more light on the 6ft 2in ace’s future, instead stressing that “his future belongs to him” and saying how much of a pleasure it is to work with him.

“I cannot say that, it’s not for me to say that,” he said at his pre-match press conference, as quoted by Football London.

“Someone who has been in the club for eight months cannot speak about somebody who has eight years of brilliant contribution to the club.

“The only thing I can say is every day is a pleasure for me to work with a guy of his dimension. I can only have very good words about Jan.

“His future belongs to him. At the moment we will inform and that’s the correct procedure for a player of the last generation at the club. Eight years means a lot in modern football.”

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Vertonghen has been a great servant for Spurs over the last eight years, that is without a doubt.

However, with no contract extension beyond the end of the season to speak of as well as reduced game time this term, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that he’ll remain beyond the summer.