Ange Postecoglou believes Archie Gray could provide a solution to Tottenham Hotpsur’s centre-back shortage.
The Lilywhites head into Thursday’s Europa League clash with Ferencvaros without Radu Dragusin following his red card against Qarabag last week.
That leaves Postecoglou with only Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero as his outright centre-back options, while Ben Davies has also played there regularly over the years and can be classed as both a central defender and left-back.
But Dragusin’s suspension highlights how easily Spurs could be left short through the middle should they suffer a spate of injuries similar to last season.
Postecoglou claims Archie Gray can provide CB cover for Spurs
Gray was one of Tottenham’s biggest acquisitions of the summer transfer window, arriving from Leeds United.
The 18-year-old is nominally a central midfielder but is also comfortable playing as a full-back.
Postecoglou also gave the teenager minutes at centre-back during pre-season and believes he could provide a solution in that position if required — especially with Davies likely to play at left-back on Thursday with Destiny Udogie injured.
“I think Archie can play centre-back. He’s obviously played full-back, played midfield, played probably left-back. He’s a pretty versatile player and that’s one of the reasons we were really excited to bring him to the club,” Postecoglou told reporters of Gray (via Football.London).
“He takes in information well and with Radu being suspended and Destiny out, we’ll definitely need him at the back. We’ve got a couple of different options about where we use him, but I’d be comfortable using him in any of those areas.”