Pochettino explains defender's curious absence

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino simply prefers Cameron Carter-Vickers to Kevin Wimmer at the current point in time

Tottenham fans have been very worried about the future of Kevin Wimmer at the club given his absence from the squad this season. Today, manager Mauricio Pochettino provided the Spurs fan base a perfectly reasonable explanation for the Austrian’s absence.

The Spurs boss revealed that Wimmer is perfectly fit and eligible for selection, but he thinks Cameron Carter-Vickers is more deserving of playing time at the moment. That might surprise some fans given the American’s lack of experience, but Pochettino has never been one to penalize a player for his youth.

That’s good news for the 18-year-old American international. He got an opportunity to impress his gaffer during Tottenham’s pre-season. He was pressed into action due to the combination of Wimmer’s injury, with the need to rest Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld after their European duty.

It’s safe to say that Carter-Vickers made the most of his opportunity. He’s overtaken Wimmer’s spot in the squad, despite the fact that the Austrian international impressed everyone with his Premier League playing time last season. It’s a rather shocking turn of events at White Hart Lane.

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It’s such a shocking idea that I’m not sure I completely buy what Pochettino is selling here. I’ll concede that Carter-Vickers has a bright future with the club, but Wimmer looked like a budding star last year in Vertonghen’s absence due to injury. It still seems quite likely that more is going on with Wimmer than the Tottenham boss is letting on.

Even so, it’s good news for all Tottenham fans that Carter-Vickers has progressed well enough to give Pochettino a choice in the matter. If he wasn’t training well, the Spurs boss would have to play Wimmer in spite of whatever is going on with his career.

Expect to see Carter-Vickers on the Spurs bench for the foreseeable future. The real question is whether or not Pochettino will throw him into the fire of an actual match before Kevin Wimmer fully recovers from whatever is ailing him.