Ange Postecoglou has confirmed that both Kevin Danso and Mathys Tel are in line to make their Tottenham debuts against Liverpool on Thursday night.
The pair were signed on loan in the final days of the January transfer window, Danso arriving from Lens while Tel completed a shock U-turn and joined in a temporary deal from Bayern Munich. The pair are registered for the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg and, given Spurs’ injury crisis, could come straight into the starting XI at Anfield.
“Kevin and Mathys are both available, have trained, and are clear to play, so they're all good,” Postecoglou said ahead of the game. “Kevin will play... whether he starts or not, we'll have a look, because we've got another game three days later.
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“That's been our existence for a while now. It's great to get him in, he's ready to play, whether or not he starts we'll make a decision. Obviously, it's really important he's part of it now, because losing Radu [Dragusin] was a massive blow for us."
Postecoglou also confirmed Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero will not be back in time for the game with the manager taking a "conservative" approach with both defenders following long injury lay-offs. With Dragusin also out, Danso is now the only fit center-back in the squad, and Archie Gray and Ben Davies started at the heart of defense at the weekend.
It explains why there was a frantic feeling to the latter stages of the January window for Spurs, who were linked with moves for Axel Disasi, Maxime Esteve and Marc Guehi. In the end, Tottenham only added three players during the mid-season market, with Antonin Kinsky joining Danso and Tel.
“Look, it wasn’t an easy window for us or anyone,” said Postecoglou. “We got what we wanted done, but it was tricky. I said at the start that Europe has complicated it with the new format, all sorts of challenges, and a lot of us were looking for similar players like center-backs or attacking players.
“It was a tricky market. Ideally, we would have wanted things done early but we got what we needed to get done and that has given us a platform to push on.”
Spurs head to Anfield with a one-goal lead from the first leg four weeks ago, supplied by Lucas Bergvall’s controversial late strike. The winner of Thursday’s semi-final knows it will face Newcastle United at Wembley next month after it eliminated Arsenal the previous night.
