Jol makes Kaiser comparison

Tottenham manager Martin Jol has labelled youngster Tom Huddlestone as one of the best passers in the game.

Huddlestone shone in the midweek thrashing of Milton Keynes Dons as his distribution on the ball carved open opportunities for the Spurs strikers.

The 19-year-old made his first Premiership start of the season against West Ham last weekend and will keep his place for the trip to Watford.

Jol has been hugely impressed with the former Derby ace and went as far as to claim Huddlestone is a modern day Franz Beckenbauer.

"Tom has played in defence but he's a typical midfield player," Jol said in The Sun.

"At the back he would be a sort of Franz Beckenbauer.

"As a sweeper he would be the best player in the world - but who plays with a sweeper nowadays?

"Tom is 19, he's big. It can be an advantage, it can be a disadvantage but the boy is great.

"I would almost say that I have never seen a player like him, when he's got the ball. Now we have to work on his game when he hasn't got the ball"

Huddlestone got his chance after summer signing Didier Zokora was struck down with a bout of malaria.

Zokora is making good progress and Jol is confident of having the midfielder back in the coming weeks.

"Zokora is fine. It seemed really bad but he's out of hospital," he added.

"It's not as bad as we thought - you can have malaria and then it comes back."