Sky Sports journalist Michael Bridge insists that Tottenham Hotspur right-back Matt Doherty cannot blame “anyone but himself” for the fact that he could leave the club in this transfer window.
The right-back has struggled throughout this season, under both Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte, and is now being linked away from the club.
What’s the latest with Spurs?
The club did not play on Sunday after Arsenal successfully petitioned to have the north London derby postponed, due to a combination of Covid, injuries and call-ups to the African Cup of Nations.
It means that the club now have four games in hand on fourth-placed West Ham United, but they sit just four points behind the Hammers after they were beaten 3-2 by Leeds United over the weekend.
Spurs will next be in action on Wednesday against Leicester City, before then facing Chelsea in the Premier League for the third time in a month; they were beaten 3-0 by the Blues over two legs in the semi-finals of the EFL Cup.
Doherty may well be utilised in those games but he has struggled immensely for form throughout the season.
The 30-year-old has yet to make a start in the Premier League, with Emerson Royal regularly picked ahead of him.
Doherty has also been linked with a potential return to Wolves in this transfer window, amid talk that Spurs could sign Adama Traore from the Molineux club.
And Bridge believes that Doherty is solely to blame for his failure to work his way into the Spurs team on a regular basis.
What has Bridge said?
The Sky Sports reporter told GiveMeSport: "He can't really blame anyone but himself. At the end of the day, players have got to take responsibility and he hasn't done enough in training, he hasn't done enough in matches."
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Can Spurs afford to lose Doherty?
Absolutely.
He’s just not good enough and his output simply hasn’t matched how he played when he was at Wolves.
By comparison, in 302 appearances at Molineux, he scored 28 goals and laid on 41 assists. That’s 69 goal involvements.
At Spurs, Doherty has laid on four assists in 42 games and two of those came against Wolfsberger in the Europa League.
He needs to be moved on as a matter of priority, especially given that there is reportedly interest in him from Wolves in this window.