Credit: Tottenham Hotspur Academy on X

James Barker

Wed 15 April 2026 16:10, UK

Tottenham Hotspur academy defender Tyler Tingey has been spotted taking part in Roberto De Zerbi‘s first-team training session on Wednesday.

Spurs are preparing to host Brighton in N17 this Saturday, as De Zerbi reunites with his former employers in a must-win game for Tottenham.

The Lilywhites boss is under huge pressure to turn things around in North London, both in the long and short-term, but his immediate focus is of course keeping Tottenham in the Premier League.

However, with no wins in the calendar year of 2026 and seeing all of West Ham, Nottingham Forest and Leeds United respectively pick up points over the weekend, time is running out to succeed in that venture.

As such, it may be time for De Zerbi to roll the dice and to get brave with his upcoming team selections, in the hope he can find inspiration from somewhere.

Tyler Tingey spotted in Tottenham first-team training session

Tottenham have rarely utilised their academy this season, offering very few first-team opportunities to their brightest young stars.

Callum Olusesi, James Rowswell, Luca Williams-Barnett and Jun’ai Byfield respectively have been the youngsters handed some sparse minutes in the senior side, but it’s been incredibly tough sledding.

However, more and more Spurs fans are growing increasingly tired of seeing certain senior players underperform and fail to justify their place in the side.

As such, De Zerbi may just be considering bucking this Tottenham trend of not playing their academy talents in this run-in, and that theory has been granted further weight thanks to training ground footage captured on Wednesday.

Sky Sports News cameras were at Tottenham’s training ground on Wednesday to film the first-team going through some drills, and as shared by Lilywhite Rose on X, Tingey was captured involved in the session.

Of course, this could be simply to help flesh out the numbers for certain drills, but the teenage defender has had a big few days that could signal Tottenham’s intent to fast-track him into the senior side.

Tingey has just signed professional contract with Tottenham

Confirmed via Tottenham’s official website last Friday, Tingey has signed his first professional contract with Spurs.

Tingey captained Tottenham’s Under-16s side last season, and has progressed to both Under-18 and Under-19 level this season too.

Having been with Spurs since the age of 10, many inside the football club have known of his talent and potential for some time, and now 17, there is evidently confidence he can have a big first-team future in N17 too.

So, his name is certainly one to keep an eye on moving forward, as the very fact he’s already involved in first-team training suggests he may at least have a matchday squad inclusion chance in these final weeks of the season.