England defender Jonathan Woodgate is happy to be once more among people on his wavelength. The 28-year-old central defender, once regarded as the most complete in Europe, was signed by Tottenham Hotspur from Middlesbrough last week. And Sky Sports quotes him as saying that he is now feeling buoyant about being part of a unit that is ambitious. Woodgate says:
”I could have stayed at Middlesbrough and had the easy, comfortable life, but I wanted to come to Spurs and play for a team who are going places. I want to play for a club with ambition who are trying to win trophies. With this manager and with these players, you can see what they’re trying to build. Being at Spurs reminds me of when I was at Leeds and we had all these new players coming in – I was excited. The fans are good at Spurs, the manager has won silverware, he looks the part and he knows what he’s doing – he’s a proper manager. I’m playing with good players here. Fabio Capello will come and watch a lot. It’s just down the road for him, but it’s four hours to Middlesbrough.”
Spurs might not be in the best of health this season but they are certainly likely to be more successful than Middlesbrough in coming seasons. For a player like Woodgate, who has donned on the shirt of Real Madrid, Boro were going to be stop-gap arrangement and under Juande Ramos at Spurs, the player can certainly aspire to move forward in his career.