Tottenham behind-the-scenes contract developments represent strategic change
John Wenham claims Tottenham have made a strategic change after offering various Under-18 scholarship contracts to multiple players.
The owner of the reputable Spurs podcast Lilywhite Rose insists these offers have been made much earlier than usual, with one of the best young defenders in the country offered a two-year scholarship to join Spurs’ Under-18s at Hotspur Way next season.
In addition to this, one of the best young players overall in the country has also been offered the same terms, with scholarship offers being handed out to various other players as well.
And Wenham – speaking exclusively to Tottenham News – has explained the positives and drawbacks of making these offers much earlier than usual.
“Spurs have had a change of strategy as I understand it,” Wenham said.
“They have previously lost talented young players due to offering their scholarship deals too late. We also had the situation where Mikey Moore didn’t end up signing his deal until the summer. Therefore, Tottenham are now offering these scholarships far earlier than usual, we’re talking eight or nine months earlier.
“The benefit is that they can get those talented young players locked into deals. However, the risk is that those players don’t develop how you want, and then you’re stuck with them on a two-year scholarship. Overall I think it is a good move, to secure players like Junai Byfield and Lucá Williams-Barnett.”
Tottenham offer scholarship deals to join Under-18s next season
Williams-Barnett and Byfield are two of the players who have been offered scholarships in North London.
While Wenham has explained the potential drawbacks of making these offers early, it felt as though the club had no choice with these two players.
Williams-Barnett has shone this season, already being compared to Moore who has become a first-team regular at the age of 17. As a result of his form, the forward has already sat on the bench for Spurs’ first-team on multiple occasions.
In addition, Byfield has also been handed first-team chances of his own, having only recently celebrated his 16th birthday this month. Therefore, big clubs were bound to be sniffing around the two youngsters. As a result, Tottenham would have been keen to get their futures resolved so that they didn’t need to stress as the season went on.
However, nothing has been signed yet, with the club facing an anxious wait in that regard.
In other Tottenham news, Daniel Levy is to send a £40million message to Postecoglou.
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