Sam Allardyce targets Ben Davies for Crystal Palace transfer, will be very disappointed

Sometimes you get transfer rumors, especially in January, that look like they might be at least somewhat reasonable from a distance, but turn out to be completely impossible because of actual reasons that are grounded in reality. That seems to be what we have today. A report in ESPN says that Crystal Palace has made enquiries about Tottenham Hotspur’s Ben Davies for a January transfer as new manager Sam Allardyce tries to upgrade the left back position at Selhurst Park.

Nuh-uh. Not happening. Sorry not sorry.

So in a perfect, Jan-Vertonghen-is-still-healthy world you can cock your head and squint and maaaaaaaybe see how this might be somewhat feasible. Davies is a good left back, but is clearly behind Danny Rose at Spurs. Davies gets plenty of rotation minutes, but in the big games he’s always going to be paired with Kieran Trippier as Tottenham’s Rotation Fullbacks™ for the foreseeable future. You can, I guess, make a case that Davies might be expendable for the right price.

But yeah, that’s probably a weak argument anyway. Rose can’t play every match, and Spurs have a bunch of games coming up including the FA Cup tie against Wycombe, and two Europa League games against Gent. Davies is a solid contributor and will get minutes, especially since Kyle Walker-Peters is apparently not quite ready for prime time. With the way Mauricio Pochettino uses his fullbacks, Spurs need good players at least two deep at those positions.

But now Vertonghen is out for 6-10 weeks, and Davies’ importance to the team is even more important, as he can also serve as one of the central defense backups along with Kevin Wimmer. That makes him significantly more important in the short to medium term, and makes any potential transfer bid for his services rather moot.

Let’s be clear: this is not a bat country rumor. I’m quite certain that Palace has enquired about whether Spurs might be interested in selling Ben Davies! Just like I’m also quite certain that Daniel Levy more than likely told Big Sam to shove it.