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According to sources, Tottenham Hotspur have agreed to buy 18-year-old Blackburn Rovers defender Ashley Phillips. The Championship club has apparently accepted the North London team’s bid.
What’s the latest on Tottenham Hotspur and Ashley Phillips?
According to Charlie Eccleshare of The Athletic, Spurs’ £3 million deal for Phillips has been approved, with the teenager likely to make the step-up to the Premier League after showing signs of breaking through at Blackburn last season, making eight appearances.
As per Eccleshare, the youngster is set to undergo a medical in the next 24 hours, before joining up with the rest of the Spurs squad for their pre-season tour.
His arrival will also reportedly not get in the way of the Lillywhites’ plans to sign at least one more senior centre-back this summer, with the likes of former loanee Clement Lenglet linked with a permanent move.
Of course, at such a young age, the center defender may be refined to the youth teams rather than pushed straight into Ange Postecoglou’s first-team.
Phillips will be the fourth signing of the Postecoglou era, following Manor Solomon, Guglielmo Vicario, and James Maddison, as the North London club undergoes yet another reconstruction under yet another management.
Ashley Phillips is a person.
It’s an impressive transfer for Phillips, who is only 18 years old, but one he earned after shining for Blackburn last season.
The defender was the subject of plenty of praise throughout the last few years, with former manager Tony Mowbray saying, via the Lancashire Telegraph, back in 2021: “He’s an amazing footballer and he is going to be a mega footballer I’m pretty sure, but he’s a very young boy.
“He’s a 6’3, 6’4 magnificent cut of a guy, fast as lightning, composed with the ball, aggressive. I think this football club have a footballer on their hands, and we have to manage his introduction into our team as best we can. I just brought him to give him some experience.
Statistically speaking, too, Phillips wasn’t far off the numbers that Japhet Tanganga produced in his limited game-time last season – even making more blocks than the current Spurs man, according to FBref.
The 24-year-old Tanganga is a good example of how Spurs’ academy process can benefit young players, too. Coming through the academy, though injuries have stalled his progress, Tanganga was a consistent fixture in the side at one stage.
Phillips will have to take his chances when they present themselves, beginning with pre-season. The coming weeks will provide him with an excellent opportunity to learn from some of his teammates ahead of the season, and perhaps he can nudge his way into some of Tanganga’s minutes, or perhaps cast doubt on the need for a signing like Lenglet.
In competitions such as the FA Cup and Carabao Cup, Postecoglou may start Phillips, giving us a taste of the player that the teenager has the potential to become.