Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed on the official website that young defender Cameron Carter-Vickers has returned to the club after a loan stint at Championship side Sheffield United.
The 20-year-old was farmed out to the Bramall Lane outfit in the summer in a bid to give him experience of first-team football, with the centre-half making 17 appearances for the Blades.
Tottenham had the option to recall Carter-Vickers mid-season and have activated this, offering Mauricio Pochettino an extra option at the heart of his rearguard.
However, with the United States international unlikely to get many chances at Spurs for the rest of the campaign, has the right decision been made?
Tottenham are currently without Toby Alderweireld due to a hamstring injury and as such the return of Carter-Vickers makes sense to some degree.
Should another of Spurs’ first-choice centre-halves become unavailable, it certainly would leave the side relatively short of options at the back.
With FA Cup progression and Champions League football to play also, the fixture list shows no signs of thinning out and Carter-Vickers will hope to get the chance to feature, potentially from the Tottenham bench, as the season rolls on.
However, there is the potential for the 20-year-old to watch on from the sidelines and not be handed the opportunity to play.
Alderweireld is due to return to fitness and Tottenham availability next month, while Eric Dier and Victor Wanyama can both fill in at the back to give Jan Vertonghen and Davinson Sanchez a break if needed.
Juan Foyth is in a similar position to Carter-Vickers; a young Spurs defender with potential, but one that has not seen much action this season.
As such, Tottenham may have been better served leaving the USA international in Sheffield where his chances of regular football would have been higher.
However, another line of thinking by Spurs and Pochettino could well be to find a new temporary home for Carter-Vickers for the remainder of the campaign.
The 20-year-old had an up-and-down time of it at the Championship side and has not featured for Chris Wilder’s men since Boxing Day after being dropped.
Carter-Vickers was guilty of costly mistakes at Bramall Lane and as such has sat out recent games – something that Tottenham would not have been happy with.
As such, with the young defender no longer guaranteed a starting role with Sheffield United, perhaps the thinking is to end his tenure with the Blades and find another club that will play the Spurs man on a more-regular basis.