He is the conundrum of Tottenham Hotspur - one of the most gifted players in recent years - but he remains a potential thorn in the side of any man who dares take the hot-seat at White Hart Lane.

I am, of course, talking about Ledley King. He has all the talent to be at least the equal of Rio Ferdinand and John Terry as an outstanding centre-back, but he also has the injury-proneness to match.

As a manger, it must be impossible to deal with him. Just how do you manage the King of White Hart Lane?

Martin Jol lost out on him completely towards the end of his reign as a series of injuries and operations kept him out, so he didn’t really have much control over the Ledley situation. Juande Ramos completely mismanaged the situation though. Ramos mishandled King, playing him only in the games that really mattered.

King was a man coming back from injury and needed to build up some match fitness, but Ramos' reluctance to use his talisman unless absolutely necessary hampered that. It wasn’t like King was dropped to the reserves to build up his fitness. He was rested entirely, to save aggravating that knee. But Ramos can’t be blamed entirely for trying to preserve his most precious jewel.

Harry Redknapp has proved that King can play a fair number of games, but he is still often forced out of matches, such is the extent of the injury.

So what to do with Ledley King? He will never be able to play a succession of games back to back. He will miss bits of the season, and possibly more if the injury seriously flares up again. But when he does play, and is fully fit, King can be one of the best defenders in the Premier League.

Unfortunately it has come to the point where a decision has to be made. And the right one does not look favourably on the Spurs skipper. Undoubted talent that he is, King’s presence as an indispensible member, and his position as captain, is under threat when he is unable to play regularly.

Repeated absence from the side leaves the defence unsettled and disjointed. King leads the back four when in the side, but his absence creates uncertainty among the remaining defenders. The lack of a regular leader causes the entire team to lose structure and composure.

I wouldn’t say King needs to go - he is definitely an important person to have around the squad - but his position as captain and first-team regular have to be under consideration if Spurs really are to progress to the next level.