View: Time for Harvey White to leave the nest despite Tottenham contract offer, talks reportedly scheduled
Harvey White’s loan spell at Derby County ended in disappointment on Sunday as they missed out on the League One play-off places with a 1-0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday.
White, who joined the Rams on a half-season loan from Tottenham Hotspur on deadline day in January, ended his spell at Pride Park on an unfortunately familiar note as a late substitute.
The 21-year-old midfielder made 15 appearances for Derby in League One but they amounted to just 537 minutes. He completed 90 minutes just once, started only five games and his 10 substitute appearances last an average of 16.7 minutes each.
White is now faced with a decision – stick or twist at Tottenham.
The Sun reported on 3 May that Spurs have offered the Maidstone-born defensive midfielder a new contract with his existing terms due to expire next year.
However, it clearly isn’t an offer that White has jumped on with the youngster now weighing up his options.
It is understood that talks will be held with Tottenham’s hierarchy at the end of the season but the decision should really be simple for the England youth international.
While Antonio Conte did call upon White a few times in the Premier League this season prior to loaning him out to Derby, it’s time for White to leave the nest.
He’ll turn 22 in September and at that point, he doesn’t want to be stuck around playing Under-21s football in Premier League 2 or be struggling to get a game while out on loan in League One.
It’s mutually beneficial for Spurs to pull back that contract offer and start to find their academy product a new, permanent home.
White’s had two loan spells in League One now and he may not have been taken as seriously in those stints at Portsmouth and Derby than he would have done if he was there permanently.
There’s no doubt that a decent Championship club would take on the youngster, who Conte called a “really, really intelligent” player in December 2022 after a friendly match against OGC Nice.
Who would be willing to take White on? That’s a question for the summer transfer window but once he’s made available, there’ll surely be takers and Spurs would have the chance to make what could be a fair bit of money on the Englishman.
In other Tottenham news, our injury expert has reacted to Emerson Royal’s situation.