Kevin Danso reveals why he won’t repeat his old mistakes at Spurs

Kevin Danso has been speaking about the challenges he faced during his earlier Premier League spell and explains why the lessons he learned at Southampton will boost his chances of Spurs success.

Kevin Danso will be an important player for Spurs

Danso is likely to play an important role for Tottenham over the rest of the season, given the fitness record of their two first-choice centre-backs, Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, and the recent injury blow to Radu Dragusin.

The Austrian will have to be thrown straight into the deep end by Ange Postecoglou as the Lilywhites strive to end their trophy drought and push themselves back up the Premier League table.

The Spurs newcomer certainly has the experience to cope with big-pressure games, and he has now explained how the learnings from his career so far have left him in great stead for his upcoming challenge at N17.

Danso opens up on Southampton struggles

Danso came through the MK Dons academy before moving to Augsburg aged just 16. After he broke into the German club’s starting eleven, the youngster returned to England in a temporary deal, signing for Southampton on loan during the 2019-20 season.

The centre-back has now admitted that he took his foot off the gas a little during his spell at St Mary’s, and was not mentally prepared to fight every day to become the best player he could be.

However, Danso explained that the learnings he took from his experience from the South Coast have made him the player he has become over recent years, helping inculcate professionalism and a strong mentality.

Tottenham’s newest addition said in an interview with Rising Ballers: “After the Under-21 Euros, which I did really well in, we got eliminated in a group stage but I had two very good games and one decent game, I just wanted to make that next step.

“I had a lot of offers from Italy and from Germany as well, but I think being from England, growing up in England, dreaming of always playing in the Premier League, I chose Southampton.

“I started off amazingly, I started off really well and I was playing left-back and I was a centre-back. I started off playing left-back, played right-back, played one game or two games at centre-back. Like I said, I started off really well and then started playing less and less, which is quite frankly my own fault as well. I take responsibility for that.

“I’ve got to the Premier League, playing in the Premier League and it’s a dream come true, so I started taking my foot off the gas a bit. I think that’s the point in my career I learnt most about myself and I just really understood what it took if you want your dreams to become a reality, like the work you have to put in and I learnt that from a lot of the players at Southampton.

“Even though I wasn’t playing a lot then after a few months, just the support from the players, the likes of Ryan Bertrand, Nathan Redmond and, which I will always say, James Ward-Prowse, just the professionalism, the things that he put in place, the things he did. I definitely took a leaf out of his book because he’s the most professional player I’ve ever played with. There’s no stone unturned and he just works at everything.

“That’s when I thought, ‘okay, you can never take your foot off the gas’ because if you want to be a player at a high level, you’ve got to work as hard as some of these players did and change your mentality. I learnt a lot from those players around me.

“I started amazing and I was playing, and I was doing well and then, like I said, taking your foot off the gas and you can’t afford to do that, especially in the Premier League, which is definitely the toughest league I’ve played in so far.”

Kevin Danso had a wake-up call before Spurs move

The centre-back revealed that his moment of reckoning came when he went on loan to German second-division side Fortuna Dusseldorf the subsequent season.

The Austria international explains that from that point on, he has continued to work extremely hard at his game each day to be the best player he can be, never allowing himself to become too comfortable.

Kevin Danso said ahead of his Spurs move: “After obviously not playing a lot, not doing anything, I went back to Augsburg and then went on loan again to Fortuna Dusseldorf. I was in Bundesliga 2 and the first few games didn’t go so well because I was playing a little bit with a chip on my shoulder that I shouldn’t be here. My level is the Premier League. I’ve already kind of showed that I can play at the highest level, I’d played in the Bundesliga. Like why am I here?

“When you take a foot off the gas that’s normally what happens and the first few games didn’t go so well. I was playing but I wasn’t playing amazingly and then I think the minute where I realized that I was like, actually I really just have to be head and shoulders above the rest of everybody, the people in the league, was when we went to play, and no disrespect to them, Wurzburger Kickers.

“Nobody probably would have heard of them but from playing at the Etihad Stadium to Wurzburger Kickers’ stadium was the absolute wake-up call for me. You dream as a kid to be playing at stadiums like the Etihad, Old Trafford and Anfield on these big stages and then here I am playing at the Wurzburger Kickers’ stadium.

“From that point on now, my head was screwed on and I was fully focused. Then I had a really good rest of the season for Dusseldorf and I think it was something like I was man of the match for Dusseldorf in 30% of the matches for the whole season. I think it was a good decision to go to the 2.Bundesliga just as a wake-up call and to just to prove myself that this isn’t actually where I belong and I have the potential to be better.

“It’s just about proving that every day and that’s what I learnt from that loan spell that it doesn’t matter how much potential you have, how good you think you are, you actually have to prove it every day in every training session and in every game.

“You can’t take your foot off the gas and I think you see it in football a lot that there’s players with loads of potential that then don’t end up making it. I’ve played with some amazing players that definitely should have made it but I think they played too long in their comfort zone or I think they believed that their potential would get them to where they think they should be but the reality is if that you’ve go to work hard.”

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