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Can Kyle Walker - Peters Be The Answer For Saints ?

A week ago Kyle Walker Peters looked to be at St Mary's only to make up the numbers, but whilst it is still early days yet, he has pushed his way into the right back spot and showed promise, but will it be enough to earn him a permanent move to Saints.

When Kyle Walker - Peters arrived at St Mary's back in January he came with stories of his potential and promise, but not with a track record that backed that up, about to turn 23 he had started just 9 Premier League games for Spurs plus another 3 off the bench, add to that exactly the same record in cup games and just 24 appearances did not suggest that he was a talent about to burst through.

He missed the trip to Liverpool having signed only 2 days before, but started the next game at home to Burnley, he had a tidy performance before coming off after 73 minutes as Ralph Hasenhuttl brought on another striker to chase the game.

I felt after that game that he looked tidy and had promise, anything else I put down to a lack of game time at Spurs.

But he was not in the side for the next game due to injury and Ralph preferred James Ward Prowse at right back leaving Yan Vlaery on the bench for the win over Aston Villa.

That was the case too at West Ham with both Valery and KWP unused subs in a disappointing defeat.

For the following game and last before lockdown Walker-Peters was again an unused sub with Valery getting the nod ahead of him, we all know what happened there.

For the return Valery was preferred at Norwich and did ok but there was little pressure after the first 15 minutes of so, KWP was put on at the end to run the clock down in injury time.

So a week ago KWP did not look to have a career at Saints, but a poor performance by Valery who clearly has issues and is not the player he was a year ago, saw him come on as a half time sub.

This was not a great performance by Saints but again Walker - Peters struck me as a tidy competent player who could hold the ball well and pass it, what also struck me though was his reluctance to take a man on and get a cross in, but again I put that down to this being a lack of game time.

It was no surprise when he was selected for the trip to Watford and in truth my feelings on his performance were exactly the same as my previous two, competent, used the ball well and not out of place.

But again I felt going forward he lacked something, he would go so far and then turn back and play a simple easy ball sideways or even back, he rarely gave the ball away, but he seemed to lack confidence to take his man on.

So the big question is whether this is merely a lac of game time and the confidence that comes with that, or is it a fatal flaw in his game ?

Certainly we have to ask why he has had so little time on the pitch at Spurs, reaching 23 he has never made the breakthrough, so can he make it at Saints.

I think we will find out in the next few games, he has the potential that is clear, but can he become a true Premier League class player or merely a competent back up.

Certainly Ralph Hasenhuttl seems to have seen something he hadn't before, against Arsenal Walker-Peters boasted a 95% pass accuracy, attempted two crosses and created one big chance perhaps suggesting that with game time under his belt he can be a threat going forward consistently.

Ralph Hassenhuttl was impressed with that display leading to his selection of KWP to start against Watford, but says improvements can still be made especially in his crossing and forward play.

So it seems that Kyle Walker- Peters will be the man tasked with the right back spot for the remainder of the season, he has a chance to show that he can be the answer and that could give him the confidence that he needs and for the first time in his career to have a run of games in a side.

Will it be enough to earn him a move to St Mary's, certainly Tottenham Hotspur will hope so, they are desperate for him to move to St Mary's as it seems they do not have the money to buy Pierre Emile Hojbjerg otherwise.

Saints are reported to have names their price for the Danish midfielder and that is £35 million, Spurs are said to want around £15 million for Kyle Walker -Peters, but in my mind that is a gross over inflation given the players age and lack of experience.

I would suggest that his value is somewhere near half of that figure but not much more and this will leave Spurs still unable to find the hard cash to buy Hojbjerg, hence the rumour they are looking to give us two players in the transfer to enable them to finance the deal.

So to answer the question asked in the heading of this article, yes Kyle Walker- Peters could be the answer, the next six games will give us a big indication of that, but it will not be at the £15 million Spurs valuation, perhaps £8 million at a push, if we want to spend more than that on a right back we would be far better shopping in Europe where experienced International players can be found for not much more.


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