The Tottenham wonderkids who could save Postecoglou and Levy millions

It has been a season to remember for Tottenham Hotspur’s academy and all eyes will be trained on how that translates to Ange Postecoglou’s first team next season and beyond.

Wayne Burnett’s all conquering U21s side finished top of the Premier League 2 table of 26 teams and then won a second trophy after battling through to win the play-offs to decide on the overall winner. Stuart Lewis’ Under-18s won the Premier League Cup at both Under-18s and Under-17s level last season and this year finished fourth in the southern division, four points off second, despite injuries to some key players during the campaign.

So which players will get first team minutes next season, whether it be with Postecoglou in Tottenham’s first team or with a loan move to boost their development? We’re not including the likes of Dane Scarlett, Alfie Devine, Ashley Phillips, Troy Parrott and Matthew Craig in this list as they’ve got regular first team football on loan in the Football League this season already or in Scarlett’s case minutes since returning.

Let’s start with the teenager who will be wanting to build on what he’s achieved this season.

Jamie Donley

The 19-year-old will now be resting up after a fantastic season of development. Donley was a creative force for the Under-21s with 17 assists and eight goals in the Premier League 2 and EFL Trophy alone, not counting more goal involvements in the other cup competitions.

Donley’s performances caught Postecoglou’s eye as did his training with the first team and earned him four appearances from the bench, three in the Premier League against Manchester City, Newcastle and Brentford and one in the FA Cup against Burnley. The teenager was something of a lucky charm for the Australian as Spurs won three of those four games and drew the other at City.

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Spurs have a big decision to make over Donley this summer. He will likely head out on the pre-season tour to Japan and Korea and the club will be keen to have him around the first team again for a season that brings Europa League football. However, with the arrival of Lucas Bergvall, the return of Alfie Devine and the emergence of Mikey Moore, too young to realistically loan out, Donley’s development could benefit from playing first team week in, week out in the Championship or League One, with plenty of keen suitors.

“I think that’s undecided at this moment,” Burnett told football.london last week. “We’ll gather in pre-season and that will be determined by the boss,” said Burnett. “He will determine what’s best for his development, but he’s been outstanding. He’s scored goals, he’s made goals and he’s been a real focal point of this group and I can’t speak highly enough about Jamie.”

Mikey Moore

Postecoglou has taken a real liking to 16-year-old Mikey Moore, who is a wonderful talent within the academy and skipped straight into the first team set-up without playing an Under-21s game this season, mostly due to some unfortunately-timed injuries when he was set to come into Burnett’s squad.

The youngster came off the first team bench in the final two games of the Premier League season against Manchester City and Sheffield United, to become the club’s youngest ever player to appear in the competition.

That followed a campaign that brought 16 goals and nine assists in 14 Under-18s Premier League and FA Youth Cup matches. The attacker then went away with England to the Under-17s European Championships and starred with four goals and an assist from the left wing, doing so against France, Portugal, Spain and Italy, before England went out on penalties to the latter in the quarter-finals.

“Mikey has been really good,” Postecoglou told football.london last month after Moore’s couple of days with the first team got extended to the remainder of the season. “Look he’s a very talented boy and for him, he’s had a fairly disrupted season, he’s had a couple of injuries. When he’s performed, he’s performed really well. The reports I’ve had on him have always been outstanding. It’s been good to have him.

“Obviously we’ve had a couple of weeks without a game and it’s been good to get him involved in the first team. Again, to be fair to him he has adapted really well, he hasn’t looked out of place and it’s great for him. Hopefully it gives encouragement to him and some of the other guys who are coming through.”

Moore is expected to be involved in pre-season with Tottenham and despite his age, he turns 17 in August, will likely get more minutes under Postecoglou with the extra games this season.

Tyrese Hall

Another young talent who has stepped up from the U18s this season, albeit into Burnett’s Under-21s, with ease and Postecoglou drafted Hall on to the bench for the match against Manchester City this month. The 18-year-old central midfielder signed a new five-year deal with the club and then impressed with his 19 minutes for the first team from the bench against Newcastle United in Melbourne.

Hall was then instrumental in the Under-21s’ play-off win against Sunderland with his calm and composed display in the centre of the park and Burnett told football.london that he and the other academy coaches had been cautious with the prodigious midfield talent, only bringing him up to the U21s at the turn of the year.

“We were careful with his development and when we felt it was the right time for him to step up from the Under-18s to the Under-21s. He was playing in the Under-18s and at times it was easy for him, or easy-ish for him, so we felt it was right for him to move up to the Under-21s,” he said.

“He’s a player that we really like. He moves so well, with and without the ball. He’s got real ability. He can go past people. He glides past people. He’s now started to add some goals and assists to his game, which is important.

“We remind him that he also has to do the other side when we haven’t got the ball, which he’s learning and he’s grasping and he’s wanting to do it. I think with all of these young players, as long as they keep working and striving to get better every day then they will all hopefully get an opportunity somewhere along the line.”

Postecoglou and his coaching staff have their eye on Hall and you can expect the youngster to get plenty of pre-season game time as they look to continue his progress.

Alfie Dorrington

It’s been a season of real highs and lows for Dorrington. The big 19-year-old centre-back started the campaign in fine form, carrying on from his exploits in the previous season, and was rewarded with 10 appearances on the first team bench in the Premier League as injuries hit Postecoglou’s backline.

However, two hamstring injuries hit his season hard, the latter requiring surgery last month and the talented centre-back will be hoping to return quickly to where he was in the early months of next season.

Comfortable on the ball to pass or move and with an eye to raid forward like Cristian Romero, there is plenty to come from Dorrington in the seasons ahead.

Josh Keeley

The 21-year-old goalkeeper might have gone under the radar somewhat this season because after playing his part in Spurs Under-21s’ unbeaten start to the campaign, he headed off to non-league side Barnet.

There though Keeley had a terrific spell, with his performances between the sticks helping the team to the National League play-offs where they lost in the semi-finals to Solihull Moors.

For Keeley though it was a major season of development and he has seen that rewarded this week by being called up to train with the Republic of Ireland senior squad by John O’Shea before returning to the Under-21s for their games next week.

After just two seasons of professional football, a string of clubs in the Football League are looking to take Keeley on loan next season and with Brandon Austin’s new five-year deal, Fraser Forster returning from injury and Alfie Whiteman with a year left on his contract, it makes perfect sense for the young Irishman to continue his development with regular starts in the league.

Will Lankshear

The 19-year-old striker has been a machine this season with 32 goals to his name for the Under-21s and three in his first three games for the England Under-19s. To put his season into context, in the regular Premier League 2 season, there were only three games for Spurs from late September onwards that Lankshear played in but did not score in. He then netted five goals in their four play-off matches.

The all-action, battling teenager was fatigued towards the end of a heavy campaign and was managed carefully by the club staff, which might explain his absence from the trip to Melbourne with the first team, but he is expected to play a part in Postecoglou’s pre-season after a summer spent resting up his aches and pains as Spurs Under-21s’ battering ram of a forward. He admitted to football.london that he spent much of the play-off final unable to feel his left shoulder after an early collision.

Clubs are understood to be lining up to take Lankshear on loan next season if Tottenham decide to go down that route, but with those Europa League games there may also be a temptation to hand the prolific goalscorer some minutes in the opening half of the campaign. His pre-season displays could help make that decision.

“Credit to him. He had a bad injury towards the end of last year and he’s worked tirelessly. He’s obsessed with scoring goals. Like any good striker they have a want and a willingness to score. He gets upset when he doesn’t score and that’s something he has to overcome and get rid of the disappointment at times,” Burnett told football.london after the play-off final.

“But he’s a goalscorer because he wants to get in the frame of the goal. He’s brave and he’s been a decent finisher. You don’t score that many goals out of coincidence. He’s worked tirelessly and he’s got a really nice trait that he’s obsessed with scoring goals. I don’t like to label players, and I’m not saying he’s an old school striker, but he’s a centre-forward who thrives on crosses and balls into the box. He’s got that willingness to run in behind and his hold-up play is getting better.

“He’s still, and he’ll admit this himself, got stuff that he needs to work on for his career, but he’s working and he works every day. You have a player that has an obsession with scoring goals. That helps and I think that he will be judged on how many goals he scores. He’s certainly done that this season.”

Yago Santiago

It’s been a terrific season for the 21-year-old Spanish left winger with nine goals and eight assists in the Premier League 2 and play-offs alone this season. Santiago also got on Postecoglou’s first team bench three times in the Premier League in December and January due to injuries.

He then had a bright cameo as a substitute in the post-season friendly against Newcastle in Melbourne and will likely get more minutes in pre-season next month.

While the winger has been a bundle of tricks and end product for the Under-21s and this had been an excellent year of development, he may have passed the window of opportunity at 21 to break into the first team set-up on a more consistent basis even if the talent is certainly there. As with most young wingers, he is a confidence player and his off-the-ball work will need to continue to improve but he has caught the eye of some within the first team set-up.

Moore’s emergence as a big left wing talent within the club will also be another impediment to Santiago’s own first team hopes and a good loan move next season – currently the final year of his contract – could really push on his own progress.

George Abbott

The 18-year-old was handed a new three-year deal this month and it comes after an excellent season for the Under-21s as he filled in all over the place as a midfield, centre-back occasionally or as an inverted full-back.

Abbott also took the captain’s armband for the second half of the campaign and topped that off by scoring and grabbing an assist in the play-off final last week against Sunderland.

Abbott is right on the cusp of getting more first team involvement – needing perhaps another season of development – and has already made his Premier League debut under Ryan Mason in the final game of last season at Leeds United after being on the bench under Cristian Stellini against Bournemouth the previous month.

This year will be a real decider in what comes next for him, whether it’s as a versatile back-up ready to step on to the bench for the first team in cup competitions or he gets a loan move to push on his progress.

Luca Gunter

Another goalkeeper on the list, Gunter had a brilliant second half of the season for the Under-21s after Keeley’s departure to Barnet. The 19-year-old made save after save for Burnett’s side and was a huge presence in their play-off matches with some remarkable late reaction saves to keep a tired Tottenham team in their games.

He also made five appearances for England Under-19s this season and if Spurs can find the teenager a loan move next season he will likely kick on even more, even if the Under-21s will be disappointed to lose him.

Jude Soonsup-Bell

Soonsup-Bell probably went under the radar more than Spurs Under-21s’ other attacking options this season even though he racked up 20 goals involvements in 26 Premier League 2 and EFL Trophy matches – 12 goals and eight assists.

The forward has been doing an excellent job on the right wing with Lankshear the main man through the middle. He might get a chance to impress Postecoglou in pre-season before the first team stars return from the Euros and Copa America, but a loan move looks the more likely path to get him first team minutes next season.

Others to watch

Spurs’ academy has had so many high-performing players this season that we were always going to have to leave some really talented players off this main list.

Full-back Tyrell Ashcroft has been a crucial mainstay for the Under-21s this season, whether playing in his natural right-back role or also at left-back and in central defence. Nile John, now 21, has been a constant in the midfield for Burnett’s side as has Dante Cassanova, who played most of the season in central defence.

Rio Kyerematen has had an excellent campaign and earned his chance in the Melbourne friendly against Newcastle, while Under-18s Callum Olusesi and Leo Black have had fine seasons for Stuart Lewis’ side, Olusesi recently part of England’s squad at the European Under-17s Championships and Black involved in Melbourne.

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