Report: Tottenham want to recall £3M centre-back from his loan as injury crisis hits

Tottenham Hotspur are ready to bring back one of their stars who has been impressing out on loan amid their injury crisis.

Ange Postecoglou has just one fit available centre-back with Radu Dragusin his only remaining option. Tottenham have lost Micky van de Ven to another hamstring injury, Cristian Romero has suffered a new quad injury and Ben Davies is also out with a hamstring issue.

The North London club are going to have to take action in January and one of their plans is to bring back one of their talented youngsters from his loan spell.

Tottenham want to recall Ashley Phillips from Stoke

Tottenham are considering recalling Ashley Phillips from his loan spell at Stoke City, according to Evening Standard. Spurs have the option to bring him back to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium from the start of the New Year.

Postecoglou will have to play Archie Gray at centre-back having just lost three of his four options for this position. The 19-year-old is yet to make an appearance for Tottenham having signed back in 2023 from Blackburn for a fee of just £3 million.

The defender had a successful spell on loan at Plymouth last campaign and helped them to stay in the Championship. Now, he is currently on loan at Stoke and has been impressing in the Midlands, but that spell could be brought to an end in January.

How has Ashley Phillips been doing on loan at Stoke?

Following a slow start to life at Stoke, Phillips has quickly become a key part of Narcis Pelach’s team and has started in all nine of their last Championship matches. During that time, results have been rather mixed for the Potters having won two, lost four and drawn three, but the young defender has still managed to impress.

One area in which the teenager has excelled is his ability on the ball. Phillips had been making a name for himself in the Championship as a ball-playing centre-back, which is something Postecoglou’s team desperately need.