Arnaut Danjuma once again cut a frustrated figure on the sidelines on Monday evening as Tottenham squandered vital points in their top-four quest. Making the trip to Merseyside to take on Everton, the game at Goodison Park saw the Netherlands international come face-to-face with the club he almost joined on loan from Villarreal at the end of the January transfer window.
Looking on course to link up with the Toffees until the end of the season, Danjuma instead headed to Tottenham after the club made a late move for the exciting forward to help boost their attacking options for the remainder of the season. The 26-year-old has unfortunately not had an impact for his new club since making the move, with the main reason down to a severe lack of minutes under Antonio Conte.
Making four appearances for Spurs to date, Danjuma has only played once in the Premier League and that was for the final 11 minutes of the 4-1 hammering at Leicester City at the start of February. The ex-Bournemouth man has been an unused substitute seven times in the league since making the switch.
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Appearing that things may change for him under new acting head coach Cristian Stellini, Danjuma was not called upon by the Italian in the closing stages at Goodison Park. Instead, Lucas Moura was the player preferred to him when Son Heung-min made way on 82 minutes.
The continued selection of Lucas over Danjuma has been a gripe amongst Tottenham fans over the past two months with the experienced player preferred to the new signing despite the fact that he is departing Tottenham at the end of the season. The same could be said about the Dutchman as his loan spell expires at the culmination of the campaign, but he is really playing for his future with Spurs having the option to purchase him in the agreement they struck with Villarreal.
Given eight minutes to help Tottenham see out the game, Lucas would only be on the field for six of those after seeing red for a bad tackle on Michael Keane. It once again left many fans lamenting the decision to introduce the 30-year-old ahead of Danjuma.
As Lucas is now facing a spell in the stands with his red card resulting in a three-match ban, Danjuma could finally see an increase in playing time in the Premier League. The question marks over when exactly Richarlison will return from injury should also boost his potential opportunities, starting this Saturday against Brighton & Hove Albion.
Regardless of what is happening with the Brazilian duo at present, chances should be there for Danjuma as Son again failed to hit the heights on a dismal evening for the South Korean on Merseyside. The attacker did not have a shot on goal against Sean Dyche's men and he had no impact on proceedings whatsoever.
In some of the best form of his career 12 months ago as he scored goal after goal, Son looks a shadow of his former self at present and to date only has six goals in 27 Premier League fixtures this term. The 30-year-old has not recaptured his form despite only dropping to the bench three times and it's clear to see that persisting with him in the team in hope of him getting back to his best is not working and a change needs to be made.
It is now down to Stellini to give Danjuma the opportunity he has craved since his moving from Villarreal at the end of January. With Conte previously showing no signs of wanting to give him an opportunity in the side, his former assistant head coach must go his own way and decide if the Netherlands ace has a key role to play in the final nine league games of the campaign or not.
The versatile attacker was a talking point in Stellini's post-match press conference as he was quizzed about the player's continued lack of minutes.
"Danjuma is one player. We obviously have three important players up front and today we used Lucas and then when we had 10 players after the red card we couldn't change," explained the Italian. "Danjuma is a good player, his effort is fine. We are happy with him. He just needs to wait for his time because in our squad it's not easy to play in the front three. It's not easy for him. We understand him but we are happy."
Time is one thing that is quickly starting to run out for Danjuma and Tottenham as there are now only nine league games to go in his loan spell. As Spurs' past couple of results against Southampton and Everton could prove disastrous to their Champions League aspirations come the end of May, Stellini needs to find a way of getting the team back on track or else Spurs will not be playing in Europe's premier competition in 2023/24 if their current form is anything to go by.
The calls for Danjuma are only going to get louder after what happened at Goodison Park on Monday evening. Given their current woes, what is the worst that could happen?
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