Alan Hutton is set to leave
Tottenham in the summer after a furious dressing room bust-up with manager
Harry Redknapp,
Goal.com UK can reveal. The defender and the Spurs boss clashed after the Londoners had been thrashed 4-0 by Fulham and knocked out of the FA Cup at the end of last month.
Hutton was singled out for criticism by Redknapp in front of his team-mates in the changing room afterwards and hit back by arguing he did not deserved to be blamed for the humiliating defeat.
Hutton was then called in to see Redknapp in his office the following day and was given a second, even more vociferous, dressing down but the Scot responded in a more measured manner on that occasion.
The defender had been Spurs’ regular right-back up until the Fulham game on January 30 but has been given the cold shoulder by Redknapp in the past month.
“Harry had a pop after Fulham because he felt Hutton had a poor game and Hutton stood his ground because he felt he was being unfairly treated,” a source told
Goal.com UK. “It was a stand-up row and serious enough for Harry to call him in the next day and freeze him out ever since.”
In the match, Hutton had needlessly brought down Clint Dempsey to concede an 11th minute penalty and Spurs were 3-0 down after 23 minutes and 4-0 by half-time. Redknapp described his team’s defensive display, in which Michael Dawson had also been sent off after conceding a second spot-kick, as “horrendous” afterwards.
Hutton has not been name-checked by the club as one of their injured players over the last four weeks and played the full 90 minutes in Scotland’s 3-0 win over Northern Ireland on February 9.
Vedran Corluka, who had featured in only two Premier League matches between late September and early February, returned at right-back for four games before damaging his ankle against AC Milan at the San Siro.
William Gallas switched to full-back and took the Croatian’s place in Spurs’ 3-1 defeat at Blackpool on Tuesday, although it is believed that Hutton suffered a groin injury in training last week and was not available in any case for the trip to Bloomfield Road.
However, it is unlikely he would have featured against Blackpool. Redknapp has been so determined to keep Hutton on the sidelines that he selected two goalkeepers – Carlo Cudicini and Stipe Pletikosa - on the bench for Spurs’ 1-0 win against Blackburn three days after the Fulham defeat even though the Scotland international was fully fit.
Redknapp also selected three 'keepers in his 18-man match-day squad for the trip to Birmingham in early December, although Spurs were decimated by injuries at that time.
Hutton, whose contract runs until 2013, is now considering his future at White Hart Lane. He has had a mixed spell in north London but had seemed to make the breakthrough as a first-team regular this season, starting 18 out of the club's opening 23 Premier League games.
Spurs told Sunderland, who took Hutton on loan for the second half of last season, that they wanted £8 million last summer for a player they signed from Rangers for £9m in January 2008.
But Tottenham would be willing to off-load the right-back in the next transfer window for around £5m. Sunderland, who retain an interest in the Scot, and Aston Villa are the early front-runners to sign the 26-year-old.
Hutton is expected to fly with the rest of the Spurs squad to Dubai for a week's warm weather training, where they will link up with Redknapp, who flew to the Emirate ahead of his players and spent Thursday at the horse racing.
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