REPORT: Matt Doherty heading to Atletico Madrid on loan

Matt Doherty is taking his sexy little goatee to Spain. According to Relevo journalist Matteo Moretto, the Irish wingback is not long for Tottenham Hotspur’s squad and is set to join Atletico Madrid on loan for the rest of the season.

Moretto calls this a “simple loan” which implies that it’s straight out and straight back this season with no purchase obligations or options. It makes sense — with the addition of Pedro Porro, Tottenham had four right backs on the books which is two too many. Atletico was previously interested in bringing in Djed Spence on loan, but the young “club signing” opted to head to Stade Rennais in order to maximize his playing time — that signing will be announced soon, no doubt.

Dohertinho was the next most likely wing back to leave — he’s 31 years old and never really established himself as a regular attacking wingback option, though he’s certainly had his moments and proved to be a very good teammate. His departure will mean that Spurs will be rolling with Porro and Emerson Royal for the rest of the 2022-23 season, and you know what, that just makes a lot of sense, probably the most sense. My guess is that Spurs will try and offload Doherty permanently this coming summer.

We’ll wait for more information and/or an official here-we-go from Fabrizio Romano, but this looks likely.