This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Tottenham’s Ben Davies has said that he struggled with a groin injury throughout the whole of the previous campaign, per Daily Mail.
What’s the story?
Last season, Spurs reached the Champions League final and, although they eventually lost to Liverpool 2-0, it will surely go down as one of the most memorable seasons in the club’s history.
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48-time Wales international Davies played a big role in that run, featuring in nine matches. However, it appears that he played through the pain of an injury throughout the whole of the campaign. He said: “I was struggling with a groin problem all last season.
“I came back from the summer (2018) being told the problem would go if I rested it but it didn’t. After games, I was crippled with pain for a couple of days.
“Going into games sometimes I was thinking in the warm-up, I don’t know if I will be able to get through it. I got to the end of the season on a few painkillers or whatever.”
“In the end, I had an operation, the day after I played for Wales, after the Champions League final. It was called a double groin repair. I have two good scars, it’s like a C Section without the middle bit! It was something I needed to do.”
An unsung hero every team needs
The former Swansea defender signed for the London outfit in 2014 along with Michel Vorm, with Iceland international Gylfi Sigurdsson going in the opposite direction. Since then, he has made 174 appearances for the Lilywhites, scoring four goals and providing 17 assists.
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In the age of attacking full-backs such as Marcelo, the £22.5m-valued 26-year-old – as per Transfermarkt – is never going to receive many plaudits as he is not the most flamboyant or mesmerising of players. However, these recent comments show just how much of an unsung hero he is.
In all competitions last season, he played 40 times, which takes some doing whilst carrying such an injury. By playing through the pain barrier on a regular basis, he showed his commitment to the Tottenham cause and to Mauricio Pochettino.
Davies is the kind of player every manager would love to have in his squad. Considering Christian Eriksen, for example, has publicly spoken about leaving the north London outfit, it is refreshing to see that Davies just gets on with the job at hand despite not being a guaranteed starter.
Whenever he is needed, though, his manager knows he can call upon him.
The pressure on Pochettino at the moment must be particularly difficult to deal with, but having a player like Davies in his ranks must be one less problem to worry about.
The Argentinian boss will surely be wishing that some of the defender’s teammates could take a leaf out of Davies’ book.
