View: Ange Postecoglou calls Tottenham academy star Luca Gunter up to first-team training
Luca Gunter has been spotted training with the Tottenham first team in a recent social media post.
Ange Postecoglou is just days away from leading Spurs out for his first official game in charge, as the club get their Premier League campaign underway with a short trip across London to Brentford on Sunday 13 August.
The Australian will need to continue assessing his squad and becoming familiar with his players before this and one player who he has decided to take a closer look at is 18-year-old goalkeeper Gunter.
Gunter can be seen training with Alfie Devine and Ivan Perisic in a video posted to Spurs’ official Twitter page (31 July).
Postecoglou was brought to the club partly based on his ability to develop young players and help build a pathway between the academy teams and the senior squad and it appears as if he is wasting no time in doing that whatsoever.
Alfie Whiteman’s injury while away on pre-season duties has opened the door for a younger player to claim the third-choice goalkeeper spot and it looks as if Gunter is making a real attempt to make that spot his own.
The experience of training with the first team will only bring positives for the England Under-18 international, who was a regular for Spurs’ academy sides last season and has already featured twice for his country.
He played 18 times in the Under-18 Premier League, stepped up to feature in Premier League Two once and made three appearances in the UEFA Youth League.
As well as this, the shot-stopper was named captain in both the Under-17s and Under-18s Premier League Cup finals, lifting the trophy on both occasions.
The next step will be for Gunter to establish himself as a regular part of the club’s Under-21s, or perhaps head out on loan to gain some valuable first-team experience in a lower division elsewhere.
Whatever he decides to do, the fact that he is already featuring in first-team training suggests he is a player who Postecoglou has one eye on, and the young talent will need to build on that and continue to impress.
In other Tottenham News, the Lionesses and Bethany England have qualified for the knockout stages of the Women’s World Cup.