New Tottenham star reveals he rejected chance at professional rugby career

A Tottenham defender has admitted that he had an opportunity to pursue rugby as he was coming through the ranks as a youngster after being offered a scholarship to play the sport.

Although he is an Austrian national and came to Tottenham from French football in January, Kevin Danso spent his formative years as a footballer in England.

The defender moved to England with his family aged just six and was in the MK Dons academy as a youngster while he also had a spell on loan at Southampton.

His exposure to English culture and football has eased the settling-in period for him at Spurs, but the defender has now admitted that he almost chose a different sport than football.

Kevin Danso admits he had a rugby scholarship opportunity

Danso is built like a tank, which is why it is perhaps not surprising that he was as skilled at rugby as he was at football.

The Tottenham defender has now admitted that while coming through the ranks at MK Dons, he was handed scholarships to play rugby and explains why he chose to concentrate on football instead.

The 26-year-old told The Standard: “I had a few scholarship offers for rugby clubs, for private schools as well. At one point I had to decide because it was getting more serious and with the injury risk the older you get, I just decided to play football.”

New Tottenham signing made some mistakes as a youngster

A couple of years later, Danso left England behind and joined the academy of German club Augsburg, where he went on to make his Bundesliga debut as an 18-year-old.

However, he would return to these shores soon, getting his first taste of Premier League football on loan at Southampton during the 2019-20 season.

The defender admits he made some mistakes during his time at St Mary’s but his subsequent experiences at Augsburg and Lens helped him mature as a footballer.

Danso added about his spell with the Saints: “I was 20 there, 21, I think I made some mistakes when I was there. But now I think with the experience of going back to Germany, now playing three-and-a-half years in France, playing week in, week out, playing in the Champions League, playing at the Euros, that’s the most important thing as a player.

“Playing games and getting that experience, playing against top players [Kylian] Mbappe, [Ousmane] Dembele, many top players. It’s one of those things that has helped me grow as a player. I just try to bring my experience as much as possible into the team and try to help the team as much as I can.”

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