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Spurs’ most-used Premier League Xl of the decade: Rose, Dier, Lamela…

Tottenham will look back at the 2010s fondly – and some players have been instrumental to their improvement over the decade.

The Lilywhites started the decade by experiencing Champions League football for the first time in their history and by 2019 they were playing in the final.

Here, we’ve created an XI of their most-used players in the Premier League across the decade.

Hugo Lloris 

Lloris was brought to the club by Andre Villas-Boas on deadline day in 2012 and quickly established himself as Tottenham’s first-choice goalkeeper.

The 32-year-old has made 246 Premier League appearances over the past seven years and was made captain by Mauricio Pochettino in 2015.

Kyle Walker

Walker left Sheffield United to join Spurs in 2009 and made his debut for the club under Harry Redknapp in March 2010.

The defender established himself as a regular in Spurs’ starting line-up in 2011-12, and his impressive performances that season won him the PFA Young Player of the Year award.

After 183 league appearances for the club, Walker joined Man City in a £52million deal in 2017 and the 29-year-old has won back-to-back Premier League titles with the Blues.

Jan Vertonghen 

Vertonghen signed for Spurs from Ajax in 2012, the defender becoming Andre Villas-Boas’s second signing.

The Belgian has been one of the first names on the Spurs team sheet for much of the nine and a half years since, racking up 217 Premier League appearances.

Toby Alderweireld 

After a loan spell with Southampton, Alderweireld joined Spurs in 2015 and has rarely been anything over than outstanding ever since.

The 30-year-old immediately formed an impressive central defensive partnership with Vertongen, his former Ajax team-mate, and won Tottenham’s Player of the Year award in 2015-16.

Alderweireld has made 130 Premier League appearances for the club, although his contract expires at the end of the season.

Danny Rose

Rose signed from Leeds United as a 17-year-old in 2007 and made his Premier League debut against Arsenal in 2010, scoring a stunning goal in a 2-1 win.

Rose became a regular in the team under Tim Sherwood and then Pochettino, but he has perhaps surprisingly only made 154 league appearances despite spending the entire decade at the club.

 

Eric Dier 

Dier came through the youth ranks at Sporting Lisbon before making a £4million move to Spurs in 2014.

The 25-year-old was utilised as a defensive midfielder by Pochettino in 2015-16, establishing himself as the regular partner to Mousa Dembele as Tottenham finished third in the league.

His career has stagnated in the last couple of years due to injuries, but with Jose Mourinho now at the helm he can expect to add to his 160 Premier League appearances.

Moussa Dembele 

Spurs triggered a £15million release clause in Dembele’s Fulham contract to bring him to White Hart Lane in 2012.

The Belgian quickly established himself as a key member of the team’s midfield and made 181 league appearances for Spurs over six and a half years.

Injuries eventually took their toll on the midfielder, however, and Dembele moved to Chinese Super League club Guangzhou R&F in January 2019.

READ: Mousa Dembélé: The supercar of a midfielder with a tank’s body count

Christian Eriksen 

After selling Gareth Bale to Real Madrid in 2013, Villas-Boas reinvested some of that money to sign Christian Eriksen from Ajax.

The Denmark international has been a revelation for Spurs and got double figures for both goals and assists in every one of the four campaigns from 2015-16 to 2018-19.

Eriksen has made 218 Premier League appearances, but he has refused to sign a new contract with the club and looks set to leave in 2020.

Erik Lamela

Lamela joined Spurs on the same day as Eriksen as a £30million signing from Roma.

He certainly hasn’t been able to fill Bale’s shoes and has only shown glimpses of his talent, but he’s certainly had his moments and is still there, which says something.

Still, it still feels weird that he’s played more games than any other winger for Spurs this decade, with 138 league appearances.

Harry Kane 

Kane spent the start of this decade out on loan at Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich City and Leicester City before his breakthrough season at Spurs under Villas-Boas in 2014-15.

The striker then developed into one of the best strikers in the world under Pochettino and now boasts a record of 132 goals in 192 Premier League appearances for Spurs.

Son Heung-min

Pochettino signed Son from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015 for £22million and that has proved to be a brilliant bargain for Spurs.

After a slow start, the South Korean has been one of their key players, scoring 46 goals in 143 Premier League appearances, and he has already impressed Jose Mourinho.

“I want to congratulate Son. It’s the third time in a row he’s Asian player of the year,” said Mourinho.

“I am in love with that guy, so I imagine the people that are here with him four or five years…. fantastic boy.”

Honourable mentions

Aaron Lennon 

Lennon made his Spurs debut in 2005, but the winger was still a key part of the side in the first few years of this decade.

The 32-year-old was a regular under Redknapp and Villas-Boas, and he made 131 Premier League appearances for Spurs in this decade before joining Everton in 2015.

Dele Alli 

Alli had a brilliant start to life at Tottenham after joining from MK Dons in 2015 and the midfielder won the PFA Young Player of the Year award in his first two seasons.

In his four and a half years at the club, Alli has made 138 league appearances and after a difficult start to the season, he now looks rejuvenated under Mourinho.


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