Tottenham Hotspur’s Belgian summer signing http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jan-Vertonghen-c17814 knows that he will need to work hard and prove his worth to Andre Villas-Boas if he is to challenge for a first team spot in the Spurs squad.
The Belgian centre-half believes he faces a considerable challenge in his bid to be first choice for the manager, especially since he’ll be competing with four players for the two central defensive positions.
Vertonghen will be competing with the likes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Younes-Kaboul-c37543 and Team Great Britain’s Olympic start Steven Caulker.
Caulker had spent last season on loan at Swansea City and impressed new manager Villas-Boas, who signed him on a new deal and hopes to include him in his long term plans for the club.
The Portuguese manager has a variety of options at the back, and is not short of defensive cover as Spurs look to prepare for the coming season.
As of now, Spurs don’t have a first choice centre-back pairing, and it could be any of the five players that are in contention for the first team spot. Vertonghen hopes that he is able to be on top of Villas-Boas’ mind and be selected as one of the two centre-halves.
The player knows that this won’t be an easy task.
Speaking to the English press, he said:
"It will be difficult for me to break into the team, without a doubt. I knew before I came that there would be a lot of competition. But I am not afraid of competition. It's a big club, and at every big club there is a lot of competition."
The player has been settling in gradually and is very happy to be part of the North London club’s set up. Vertonghen says he was impressed by the club’s administration, culture and training facilities when he first arrived from Ajax. He recently completed
his initiation into the squad by performing a song in the dressing room ahead of their final pre-season game in the US.
"I did my song and I am happy it's over," he added. "I sang Yellow Submarine by The Beatles. I thought I would take an easy one. I don't know the lyrics of many English songs - but everybody knows that one.”
"Once you start off, everybody else joins in. So I took the easy way out."
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