With Moises Caicedo out of action because of a calf injury, Lesley Ugochukwu got his first call up to start for the first team in the Premier League on Sunday.
He perhaps doesn’t bring as much as you’d hope driving forward yet, especially in a game like this where his team lacked energy in the final third, but he looks remarkably composed for a 19 year old.
It was a poor result in the end, but Ugochukwu did his job, and after the game Mauricio Pochettino had positive things to say about the France midfielder:
‘That is one of the positive things, a first start for him. He is really young and to compete at this level [the Premier League] is always difficult. But I think his performance was good.”
Caicedo looks like he will be fit for Sunday’s game against Aston Villa, and we would expect him to slot right back into Ugochukwu’s place given that. But the young midfielder has shown once again that he can be trusted, and Pochettino’s decision to keep him around and let both Andrey Santos and Cesare Casadei go on loan in his stead looks increasingly wise.
