Latest reports have confirmed that Pontus Jansson is currently out with a foot injury and the severity of the damage is yet not known. However, this is bad for the Whites as they now have just one centre-half who is fit and that is club captain Liam Cooper. The likes of Gaetano Berardi and Luke Ayling are out for a couple of months, and United’s backline looks thin at the moment.
The Whites were linked Tottenham Hotspur defender Juan Foyth around a month back, and it was reported that Bielsa was keeping a keen eye on the Argentine footballer for a loan move in January. United were also linked with this highly impressive centre-half in the summer, but nothing came through at that time. However, one can pretty much count out a January move now as the player seems to have found his bearings off late.
Injury to Jan Vertonghen has given the 20-year old defender his chances, and he has won two man of the match in the three games he has played so far. First, he put in a strong performance in the Carabao Cup against West Ham. Recently he scored the winner against Crystal Palace and helped in keeping a clean sheet for which he won another man of the match.
Spurs fans are already raving about him even though he gave away two penalties against Wolves. However, the manager and players sympathised with him as they believed that it was because of his team-mates’ mistakes that he was forced to concede those penalties.
Foyth was signed by Pochettino in 2017 for a reported fee of £8m and this Argentine already looks like a big bargain. Only because Spurs had two of the best defenders in the Premier League in the form of Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen, Foyth had to wait such a long time for a playing opportunity. It seems clear that he is well made to take on the challenges of the Premier League and at just 20, the Argentine looks like a complete package at the back.
With such performances in the past few weeks, Pochettino is definitely not going to let Foyth leave on loan. Spurs might be crashing out of the Champions League but they are likely going to find themselves in the Europa League, and the defender should continue to get his chances even when Vertonghen recovers.
Bielsa probably should have acted firmly in the summer. However, there is no point in repenting on a lost cause, and the Whites need to identify a plausible centre-back option for the January window. Bielsa has already played down on the notion of any new signings coming through, but these injury setbacks should make him reconsider.
