Spurs winger seeking January loan to ensure a spot in England roster

Andros Townsend hasn't had the best start of the season with Tottenham Hotspur, and the latest grindings of the rumor mill have him possibly departing the club on loan in January in order to receive more playing time.

Despite being reduced to a substitute and Europa League role with Spurs this season, Townsend has been a regular member of England's national team under Roy Hodgson. The reports suggest that Townsend is considering a loan away so that he will have more playing time and so it will not jeopardize his role on the team ahead of next summer's EUROs. These same reports also suggest Spurs might again target Crystal Palace winger Yannick Bolasie as his replacement.

Various rumors have linked Townsend away from Spurs and most of them seem to have originated from The Sun, which still hilariously behind a paywall and whose reputation on transfer rumors automatically makes their reports suspect. That said, the idea of a loan for Andros in January isn't that far fetched. Townsend is getting minutes at Spurs, but not many, and those are mostly coming off the bench. He hasn't particularly impressed Mauricio Pochettino thus far, and seeing as how he's behind Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen, Nacer Chadli, and Son Heung-Min in the rotation, that doesn't bode well for his prospects when everyone is back and healthy.

The most likely destination for Townsend according to these reports appears to be Swansea City, but even that has its problems. Swansea have Jefferson Montero and Andre Ayew on the wings, and both have played well this season (including against Spurs). It's not unlikely that even if Townsend would leave for Wales that he'd be able to lock down a starting role.

Based on everything we've seen this season it doesn't appear that Townsend has much of a future at Spurs beyond a squad player, so I'd expect we'll continue to see more reports linking the academy graduate away from Tottenham as the transfer window gets nearer. This particular crop seems pretty #batcountry, but in this case, the theory behind it is sound.