Friday Hoddle of Coffee, Catching Up with Caulker, February 3, 2017

I just heard yesterday about Steven Caulker’s loan deal from Championship side QPR to Russian Premier League staples Lokomotiv Moscow. (Manuel Veth has the full story on Caulker’s loan deal.) Given how Caulker’s career has actually panned out since his extremely promising loan at Swansea and middling first season with Spurs, it got me thinking:

What other top prospects have flamed out in unexpected ways after a promising start? Here’s my top three Spurs prospects with a bonus fourth from Manchester United. (Keep in mind that I only started watching the EPL in 2009.)

• Nabil Bentaleb—from a potential anchor in Spurs midfield for years to come to a move to Schalke last summer after spending a year in Siberia for annoying Poche. RIP Nabil’s Banterlab.
• Kyle Naughton—Was supposedly the better Kyle when he and Kyle Walker joined from Sheffield United at the same time... that turned out to not be true.
• Tom Carroll—Sorry y’all. Can’t help it. WE MISS YOU ENGLISH XAVI.
• Ravel Morrison—Was about as hyped as Pogba coming out of the United academy. Did not live up to Pogba’s standard. But West Ham is still celebrating him because, y’all, they are obsessed with Spurs:

Fun trivia: Caulker is only the second English player to play in the Russian Premier League. The first English player to play in the RPL also played for Spurs. Who is it?

On to the Links:

Just Football tries to figure out why United isn’t scoring more goals.

Meet Laszlo Kubala, the first great Barça icon.

The Set Pieces tell the sad tale of Duncan Jenkins, Twitter ITK.

How Mauricio Pochettino Made Tottenham Believe: