John Wenham believes two Tottenham goalkeepers are ‘blocking the progress’ of academy prospects
Tottenham News is delighted to welcome John Wenham of Lilywhite Rose as our exclusive columnist. Each week, he’ll be giving his expert insight on the biggest talking points at Spurs…
Tottenham should move on at least one of Alfie Whiteman or Brandon Austin with “better” prospects currently seeing their progress “blocked” by the goalkeepers, according to John Wenham.
Austin and Whiteman, both 24 years old, are products of Tottenham’s academy set-up and have been with the club since they were young. However, neither has been able to kick on and secure a place in the first-team picture.
Whiteman has played just eight minutes of senior football for Spurs during a UEFA Europa League match, while Austin is yet to make his first-team debut for the club.
Both have previously been sent out on loan on multiple occasions and are currently just making up numbers in the squad, with Wenham of the belief that at least one of them must now be moved on to allow for the development and progression of some of the club’s younger goalkeepers.
Speaking exclusively to Tottenham News, Wenham said: “The goalkeeper situation is a funny one. You’ve got Whiteman and Austin that are both 24, and you’ve got two keepers below them that are better and have a higher ceiling in my opinion.
“Luca Gunter, who’s an outstanding 18-year-old English goalkeeper, I expect he will play the majority of games for the Under-21s this season.
“Then you’ve got Josh Keeley, who joined last summer from St. Pat’s, and has made phenomenal progress, being included on both preseason tours while he’s been here.
“I know they rate Keeley very highly and I think he’ll go out on loan this summer, get a large amount of games under his belt and continue his progression. He’s a very good keeper, who can play with his feet and looked really good last year.
“I think Tottenham have got two outstanding young keepers and I think their progress is slightly blocked at the moment by Austin and Whiteman. Therefore, I wouldn’t be averse to one of Austin or Whiteman leaving permanently in the summer.
“I do see the benefit that they count as homegrown, club trained and are probably on pretty low money, but I just feel like they’re blocking the progress of some of the other keepers. Although, maybe that allows Keeley and Gunter to both go out on loan, let’s wait and see.“
In other Tottenham News, the club’s youngsters made a disappointing start to their Under-18 Premier League campaign.