Exclusive interview with Tottenham’s Japhet Tanganga – Millwall new boy respectful of Championship challenge

BY EDMUND BRACK
edmund@slpmedia.co.uk

Tottenham Hotspur loanee Japhet Tanganga is under no illusions about how important this spell at Millwall is for his career.

The defender spent the first half of the season on loan at Bundesliga side Augsburg but failed to make an appearance for the German outfit, sitting on the bench once and being out of the matchday squad entirely for their other games.

Tanganga was recalled by Spurs this month and joined the Lions on loan for the rest of the season last week. He made his debut as a second-half substitute in the 2-0 defeat at QPR last time out.

The 24-year-old’s 23-minute spell runout at Loftus Road was the first time he had stepped on to a football pitch for a competitive fixture since coming on as a late substitute for Tottenham in a 2-2 draw at home to Manchester United in late April.

“I’m at that age where you have to be playing regular football,” Tanganga told the South London Press in his first newspaper interview since becoming a Millwall player.

“It’s important to be at that stage – all I can do is give it my all. I need to be patient and hope things work out in the right way.

“I have to stay level-headed. I have always understood that football is a matter of opinions.

“If you’re not in favour at one place, you have to believe in yourself and I have always had that mentality from a young age of thinking ‘okay, it’s not going well, but stay strong and have faith. Keep doing the hard work and, in due time, things will turn for the best’.

“That was my mindset the whole time there [in Augsburg]. I took German lessons and spoke the language as much as I could. I tried to understand the culture. It was hard because I wasn’t playing, but it was a great group of guys at Augsburg who were helping me.

“I took it as an experience. It was four to five months of being in another country and learning what the Bundesliga was like. Hopefully I can take it as a life lesson.

“I was waiting and hoping for an opportunity to come – it didn’t – but now my focus is on Millwall.”

Tanganga was linked with a move to Italian giants AC Milan in the summer before making his switch to Augsburg.

“Things change very quickly in football,” he said. “As nice as it was to hear your name linked with big clubs, such as AC Milan, it wasn’t meant to be.

“The most important thing is playing and not going [somewhere] because of the status of the club.

“The Championship is a very good level – I have never played in it before. I have watched a lot of games on TV and I know it’s a tough and competitive league. You have to respect the Championship.

“One day you’re linked with this in football and the next day you’re linked with that.

“You have to make sure you’re focused on playing football – that’s the main thing.”

Tanganga was handed his senior debut by Mauricio Pochettino in an EFL Cup tie against Colchester at the start of the 2019-20 season.

He was thrust into top-flight life under Jose Mourinho later that campaign when the Portuguese manager started the Hackney-born defender at right-back against a Liverpool side who were chasing their first Premier League title.

“It’s a kid’s dream,” added Tanganga. “When you’re in an academy your hopes are to try and break through into the first team. I have been watching the Premier League since I was five – you aspire to play in that league one day.

“It has allowed me to be a professional football player. The way he told me I was starting was that he asked me on a Tuesday: ‘Do you want to play? I said: ‘I’m obviously not going to say no.’

“It was amazing to know he was able to trust me in a game like that.”

Tanganga’s Spurs tutelage in the first team was further enhanced when Antonio Conte replaced Mourinho at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Millwall boss Joe Edwards told our paper when the defender put pen to paper on his loan spell at The Den that he had gathered references from both high-profile managers before signing Tanganga.

Tanganga said: “It was one to forever cherish, in terms of working under renowned managers of that calibre. I would have been a fool not to have taken things from them. It was the small details that they really looked at.

“When you’re at that level – and it’s small margins to win – they look at those. It’s the difference between winning, drawing or losing.”
Despite making 50 senior appearances in all competitions and turning out in the Champions League, his journey in the Tottenham first team was hit with a succession of small injuries that disrupted any flow of consistent starts.

“It’s been hard,” he said. “It’s been drilled in my head from a young age that football is like that, whether it’s from my parents or academy coaches. Football can change – one minute you’re up and the next you’re down.

“Some of these things are out of my control – injuries are something you try and prevent. But we’re playing a contact sport which is very intense and the levels are high – it’s inevitable sometimes that your body is going to break down.

“Unfortunately for me, that has been the case. I have been working hard to get my body into the best condition. I would love to play every single game, but sometimes your body isn’t where your mind might be or where you exactly think it should be.”

Another reason why this loan stint is important for Tanganga is that he will be entering the final year of the long-term deal he penned back in 2020.

“I have even said myself that it’s now about playing regularly,” he said. “I know it’s hard when you’re not playing consistently to show your ability.

“My aim now is to play as many games as possible and show my talents that I believe in.

“The gaffer has shown me the direction the club is trying to go in and the footage of how we’re trying to play. That is what has drawn me in. I want to play as much as I can and win as many games as I possibly can for Millwall.

“If that can take us to a position of maybe pushing for the play-offs, then so be it.

“But at the moment it’s about getting three points and making sure we’re doing the right things.”

PICTURES: BRIAN TONKS AND PA