Cameron Carter-Vickers aiming to make his mark at Tottenham after 'massive' year on loan

Impression: Cameron Carter-Vickers spent time with Sheffield United and Ipswich Town last season
AP

Tottenham youngster Cameron Carter-Vickers has said he feels more confident on and off the pitch after a "massive" year on loan in the Championship.

The 20-year-old centre-half spent the first half of last year on loan at Sheffield United before switching to rivals Ipswich, making 17 league appearances for each club.

Former Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy wanted to sign the USA international permanently but he committed his future to Spurs in May, signing a new contract until 2021.

Carter-Vickers played 90 minutes in San Diego as Spurs beat Roma 4-1 in their first friendly of the summer and afterwards he said: "I definitely feel like, [coming into] this pre-season, I’ve improved. I definitely feel more confident out there.

"I went out on loan last season and played a lot of games in the Championship, which is a hard league. I think last year was massive for me, on the pitch and off the pitch. Moving away from home and stuff like that, it builds your character and helps you grow up a bit.

"Playing week in, week out, it builds you as a player and as a person. It builds your character. Mentally and physically it’s demanding.

"Every footballer wants to play. The manager let me go out on loan and it was perfect for me. I managed to get a lot of game time. I’ve come back and I feel like an improved player."

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Carter-Vickers is one of only two senior centre-backs on Spurs US tour and he may be needed for the Premier League opener at Newcastle on August 11 because Juan Foyth is unfit, and Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen and Eric Dier are not due to return to training until next month after losing in the World Cup semi-finals.

Alderweireld is expected to leave the club before the start of the season after entering the final two years of his contract.

"At the moment I’m at Tottenham so I’m just working hard every day in training, trying to impress the manager and trying to get into the Spurs team," he said.

"These pre-season games are important. When you play against good opposition it’s only going to help you improve."

Carter-Vickers has already been capped five times by the USA and, although he did not play in the shock defeat to Trinidad and Tobago, he feels their subsequent failure to qualify for this summer's World Cup is a massive wake-up call.

“Definitely," he said. "It was a massive disappointment for everyone involved in US soccer when we didn’t qualify. But that’s behind us now. There’s a good core of young players and we’re all hungry and we all want success.

"The young players now that have come into the squad, we’re all hungry, we all want to improve individually and we want to be in a position where, when the next qualifying campaign comes round, we can help the team as much as we can and help the team qualify.

"You can definitely see the hunger and the want for success, to improve and build a team so when we go to the qualifying matches, we qualify."

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