He Should Do Well: Ben Alnwick (Tottenham Hotspur)

It has been a torrid couple of years for Sunderland. Following their impressive promotion to the Premiership two seasons ago, they were expected to hold their own in the top flight. Instead they went down with one of the worst records in the Premiership’s history.

Back in the Championship things didn’t get any easier with new chairman Niall Quinn first placing himself as manager and then quitting a month latter following a disastrous start to the season. In his place he appointed Roy Keane and, whilst things have gotten better, matters are far from ideal.

One of the few positives to emerge from these past eighteen months was the emergence of young keeper Ben Alnwick. His first taste of first team football came during the final three games of the promotion season in 2004-05 where he helped ensure not only Sunderland’s place in the top flight but also that they would go up as champions.

When Kelvin Davis joined the following summer, Alnwick had to step back to the substitute’s bench. Not for long, however, as a string of bad performances by the former Ipswich keeper meant another chance for the young keeper. Despite impressing Davis’ greater experience eventually won out and, much to the fan’s frustration, Alnwick had to take a step backwards.

In hindsight, the most important game during that sequence was a 3-2 defeat at White Hart Lane where, despite the loss, he made a series of impressive stops including a penalty save from Robbie Keane.

Although it is safe to assume that they tracked his progress since, it is probably on that day that he first caught their attention and convinced Tottenham to part with £1 million, as well as Marton Fulop, to secure his transfer to London as from next January.

Having represented England at every junior level except for the U21 – he was expected to make his debut in the recent friendly against Holland before being ruled out through injury – he is seen as one of the most promising keepers around. Even Roy Keane seems impressed, even though he dropped Alnwick in favour of the more experienced Gavin Ward.

Alnwick will do well to remember one of Keane’s recent comments when he said that at his age, “he needs to learn off all the experienced players especially players who train hard.” Waiting to replace Paul Robinson might seem an impossible task at the moment, but he would be hard pressed to find a better keeper off whom to learn.

Already he has shown just how good a shot-stopper he is. Undoubtedly, however, he still needs to mature in his positioning whilst he lacks the experience to handle big games. He is still far away from being ready for regular Premiership football, yet he is definitely a good enough back-up for Robinson and has the talent to eventually press for Tottenham’s number one spot. The £1 million they’ve spent should turn out to be another good investment for them.