Swansea City

Mauricio Pochettino: 'Kyle Naughton needed to play'

By Joe Fish, Reporter | 23 January 2015

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino admits that he was happy for Kyle Naughton to leave for Swansea as the right-back needed to play more regular first-team football.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino was happy to sanction Kyle Naughton's move to Swansea City in order to improve the defender's chances of regular football.

The 26-year-old signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with the Welsh outfit on Thursday after a £5m fee was agreed between the two Premier League clubs, and has targeted a first-team spot.

Naughton made only 74 appearances in nearly six years at Spurs as he struggled to usurp fellow Sheffield United alumnus Kyle Walker at right-back, and Pochettino has admitted that the time was right for him to move on.

"He always tried to play more than he did and his decision was to find a club to have more opportunity to play," he told Sky Sports News. "I agreed with his decision and, after the club reached a deal with Swansea, he left.

"I was happy with Kyle's performance but he wanted another situation to play more than he did and his decision was to find a solution and Swansea gave him the opportunity to play more regularly than he would have at Spurs."

Naughton, who spent loan spells at Middlesbrough, Leicester City and Norwich City during his time at White Hart Lane, joined Tottenham along with Walker in an £8m double transfer from the Blades in 2009.