Tottenham Hotspur wonderkid Japhet Tanganga on facing Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane, and being a young player under Jose Mourinho
While everyone immediately thinks of Harry Kane and Harry Winks when thinking of Tottenham academy success stories, they have many others in the pipeline.
Japhet Tanganga has quietly arrived as one of the brightest prospect at Spurs, and after equipping himself well against the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane, his talent is clear to see.
Japhet Tanganga made a real impression in his breakthrough season at Spurs
The 21-year-old signed a new five-year deal with the north London club late last month and he, alongside fellow academy ace Oliver Skipp, has been making real inroads into the first team.
talkSPORT was lucky enough to spend the day at Tottenham’s training ground to promote the upcoming Amazon Prime Video documentary All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur, which drops on August 31.
There, Tanganga spoke about his journey in the game thus far…
On playing against Cristiano Ronaldo
“That was crazy! It didn’t feel real in many ways.
“I was thinking, ‘I was just playing this man on FIFA but now this is real life, I’m playing against one of the greats’. He has a presence for sure.
“Luckily, I played well that day and so did the team, but I’ll never forget coming up against him for sure.”
Danny Murphy urges his old team mate Gareth Bale to move back to Spurs
On facing Sadio Mane on his debut
“The boss [Jose Mourinho] pulled me aside a couple of days before the game and said, ‘do you want to play at the weekend?’, and I was like, ‘well, yeah!’
“Even though I was nervous I obviously couldn’t say no – that’s what we train for.
“So before the game I was YouTubing Mane and basically scouting him.
“I was watching him twisting guys up and I was like, ‘this could be me, man’. So I was nervous, but I had a decent game and he didn’t embarrass me or anything.”
Japhet Tanganga made his full Spurs debut against Liverpool
On working with Jose Mourinho
“He’s been very fair to me. It’s been said that he doesn’t give youngsters a chance, this and that, but Skippy [Oliver Skipp] and I are proof that he does.
“When he came in he didn’t say anything special to me personally, but he just made it known to everyone that if you worked hard in training you’d be rewarded and that’s exactly how it’s been for me.
“For him to show faith in me to face Liverpool, who had been dominating the league at the time, was definitely a big thing.”
Tanganga and Skipp look to be the future of Spurs
All Or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur will launch on Amazon Prime Video on 31st August.
No comments:
Post a Comment