Tottenham’s Pedro Porro could be forgiven for thinking: at least someone loves me, if he is chosen for Spain in their Euro qualifier with Norway on Saturday.
It’s been a baptism of fire at Tottenham for the talented 23-year-old, but he says his debut was dubbed “so bad it’s unbelievable” by Tim Sherwood, later learning of manager Antonio Conte’s post-match blast on the end. of week. He has done nothing to tarnish his desire that his move to Spurs be a success.
‘I have taken a lot of stick. There was the coach, I don’t remember [his name] now,’ he says of Sherwood’s brutal assessment of his first game for Tottenham.
After the 4-1 defeat to Leicester, Sherwood said on Sky Sports: “I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt because it’s his debut, but Pedro Porro is so bad it’s unbelievable.” I don’t want to keep bothering the boy, but he needs to be relieved of his duties.
Sherwood described Porro’s positioning as “absolutely disgusting” and concluded: “What I’m looking at is a player who doesn’t want to defend.”
Pedro Porro experienced a somewhat difficult start as a Tottenham player in February
The defender has shown his skills ever since and strives to silence his critics.
His attacking qualities have been displayed to Tottenham supporters in several appearances.
It’s a good job. Porro has just started learning English.
“I’ve had four or five classes,” he says. I’m integrating as fast as I can. I understand some things.
“The manager speaks English differently, like an Italian, so it’s easier to understand him.”
However, he will still have heard Sherwood’s comments translated for him.
“I try to ignore it but it’s impossible because people are going to say: ‘Did you see that?’
‘I had never played in England in my life. What do you want, that I score five goals and cut seventy balls in my first game? Anyone can have a bad day.
The international call is a reminder of how well it is in Spain.
And even though he was able to hear Conte scolding him on Saturday when he and teammate Ben Davies were unable to return to their natural wings, the Italian coach rates him highly.
Not that that’s going to help much if Conte leaves Tottenham. Which brings us to rant number two.
Porro says he didn’t see Conte’s performance at the weekend. He is not aware of what he said.
And when told that the Tottenham manager has attacked the club’s culture and suggested that his players have gotten too used to living without pressure, there’s a guarded silence broken only by: ‘Well, that’s your opinion. I’m not getting in there. I have nothing to say. It’s really not for me.
Doesn’t all this make you think: what have I gotten myself into?
‘No, I don’t think so. I am clear that I want to be a success. It is true that we are out of the cups and that in the last game we missed the result. But I have absolute confidence in myself and that the team can fix it.’
Porro has said that he is not aware of what Antonio Conte said after the Southampton draw
The Tottenham boss went on an astonishing tirade criticizing the club and the players.
At least the next time he plays for Spurs, it’s likely he’ll do so with a second Spain cap to his name.
His career path has been strange so far. He was a promising 19-year-old right-back at Girona when Manchester City signed him for £5.5m in 2019, but it wasn’t to play him.
“I didn’t even train with them,” he says. He was loaned again to Spanish club Valladolid and then to Sporting de Portugal, who finally signed him last summer.
City earned an extra £10m when Sporting sent him to Spurs in January on a loan deal that will become permanent at £40m at the end of the season.
Of the experience of the City he says: ‘You are there, but you are not there. I took it as a [sign that] He still had to grow as a player.
He said he was happy in Lisbon but that Spurs presented too good an opportunity to turn down.
I couldn’t let a moment like this go by. I felt that I was ready to take that step. I want to play in the best league in the world, the best players are there and it was a dream for me.
And that dream remains intact despite the events to date.
“You know that people are going to give their opinion, they are going to say that you played badly, that you are not good when you have only been at the club for two days,” he says.
And laughing to himself he adds: ‘It will make me stronger. I hope I keep saying bad things that make me strong.
Porro’s debut against Leicester saw him criticized by Tim Sherwood in particular, during and after
He already has a goal and an assist for Tottenham after initially signing on loan in January
Tim Sherwood said on Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports that their defending was “so bad, it’s unbelievable”.
‘Do not know him [Sherwood]. I don’t know what had happened to make him speak [like that]. People would go around saying that he had spoken ill of me. But he won’t be the first to have to shut his mouth.
In the meantime, Porro can enjoy some home comforts with games against Norway and Scotland next week.
Spain’s right-back job is at stake with César Azpilicueta out of Luis de la Fuente’s first team and Porro meets Spain’s new youth coach.
I have spent a lot of time with the Under-21s and they gave me a lot of confidence. You will have seen that I played well at Sporting and that I fit in with your ideas. If he brought me, it’s because he thinks I can play well and that I can contribute something.
He could say similar things of Conte, although it remains to be seen how long Conte will be his club’s manager.