When Tottenham signed Jonathan Woodgate in 2008 it looked like a gamble that would pay off. Having resurrected his career with two relatively injury-free seasons at his boyhood club Middlesborough, the £8m Spurs paid for him seemed like money well spent. His first season at White Hart Lane saw him secure a pivotal role in the Spurs’ defence, carrying on where he left off at Boro, with assured performances, but more importantly, plenty of them. A goal in the Carling Cup Final against Chelsea capped off a man-of-the-match performance and an impressive start to his Spurs career, and it appeared that the previous injury problems that had crippled his career were behind him. However, the last twelve months have been an ugly reminder of what Woodgate is up against.
Since breaking into the Leeds team with Alan Smith, Lee Bowyer et al, Woodgate’s quality has been there for all to see. A centre half who managed to balance strong tackling and good aerial ability, with a more graceful art to passing and bringing the ball out of defence, he was constantly tipped to go onto success, not only with his club, but also with England.
In the eleven years since he made his England debut, he has managed just 8 caps. A frightening statistic when you consider the ability that he has. Still, it’s only one less than the 9 appearances he managed in his two and a half year stint at Real Madrid.
The £13m that Real Madrid paid Newcastle for him raised eyebrows. Woodgate hadn’t been able to play regularly for Newcastle due to a cocktail of injuries, but his style of play suited the Spanish giants and a fully fit Woodgate may well have been exactly what they needed at the time – some added steel, but with some flair thrown in. So few English players play abroad and when he completed the move there was a genuine sense of fans wishing him well, and hoping he could succeed at such a big club. Real would have taken his history with injuries into account but even they would have hoped for more than the nine games that he managed.
For Tottenham, this is becoming all too repetitive. As well as Bassong and Dawson have played, Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate would be one of the classiest centre-back pairings the Premiership has ever seen, and yet they have had such little opportunity to form a relationship because of the injuries that they have suffered. Even with his chronic knee problems, King managed 21 games last season; the total lack of training in between appearances meant that his quality performances were bordering on the freakish. For Woodgate however, he managed just the three games. For someone on £50k per week, Spurs can only wait for so long.
Watching England’s backline getting torn apart in South Africa only highlighted a lack of complete defenders produced by this country. John Terry isn’t as bad as some have you believe, yet his lack of pace was horribly exposed. Matthew Upson is solid without being spectacular, but maybe out of depth at international level. Maybe if Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate had had two seasons of playing week in, week out, alongside each other, who’s to say that wouldn’t have been Fabio Capello’s preferred pairing.
In a position that lacks depth in this country, Woodgate is a classic example of ‘what might have been’. Harry Redknapp can’t envisage registering him for the upcoming season unless there is a drastic improvement in the player’s recovery. That would mean he would be out until January at the earliest, and with King’s fitness a constant issue, Redknapp may well have to bring in another centre-half. The fact that so many managers have taken a chance on him simply shows the quality he has, but now on the wrong side of 30, the stifled career of a highly gifted player hangs in the balance.
