Farewell and good luck Paris Maghoma:

On Thursday it was announced (via Paris Maghoma’s Instagram page) that young Spurs midfielder Paris Maghoma (18) had left the club to join fellow London side Brentford on a permanent transfer (he will likely link up with the West London clubs B team for the time being). Maghoma is a skilful, attack minded midfielder who has a wide ranging skill set, and who has been at Spurs since a very young age. The teenager who was born in Enfield but brought up in Finchley where he attended Finchley Catholic High School, is an England under 19 international and has been on the radar of Spurs youth followers for quite some time. The youngest of three brothers (all footballers) Christian and Jacques. Paris had often played above his age group at schoolboy level, and he made his competitive debut for our under 18’s as a 15 year old against West Ham back in the August of 2016. Paris, who is also eligible to represent the Democratic Republic Of Congo and Belgium at international level, would go onto feature on four more occasions for our under 18’s that season before signing his scholarship forms in the summer of 2017. In the North Londoner’s first year of scholarship at Spurs, he was a mainstay in the clubs under 18 and under 19 side, putting in a string of very impressive performances for both sides. 

Maghoma also impressed greatly at that seasons ALKASS Cup where he put in some really dominant performances in central midfield. However, in the following season (2018/19) Maghoma excelled even further for his club side. After winning the prestigious player of the tournament award at the Tournoi Europeen in the summer of 2018, before then featuring for the first team in a pre-season friendly against Spanish side Girona. Maghoma soon found himself playing as a regular for Spurs’ development side, where he became an important member of Wayne Burnett’s team. Regularly playing in the CAM role or out wide on the flanks, Maghoma was in good goal scoring form and he put in some excellent and memorable performances against the likes of Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, Gillingham, Wolfsburg II and Swansea City. The midfielder who cites Brazilian legend Ronaldinho as his footballing inspiration, was directly involved in significantly more goals than the previous season and he had improved in his all round footballing ability, and he had reached double figures for goals that he was involved in. Maghoma started this current campaign with our development side, once again playing in the Tournoi Europeen before helping a Spurs under 19 side reach the final of the 2019 Oberndorf tournament. In competitive competitions Paris played 16 times for Spurs at youth level this season, scoring two goals and assisting on one occasion.

The technically gifted midfielder who loves to drive forward at oppositions defences, is a player who is improving all of the time. I have had some great memories of watching Paris play for Spurs at youth level over the last couple of seasons. A player who I have watched extensively, Maghoma is a very talented young man who has such a great future in the game. He is technically superb, and with his lovely slaloming forward runs, incisive passing, confidence and ability to influence a game and beat a man, gets you up off your seat. Maghoma is one of those players who his new clubs fans will really enjoy watching for their B team, and eventually for their first team. He is a brave and committed midfielder who is good at taking set pieces, but also at taking attacking gambles. Reminding me a bit of a young Ross Barkley, Maghoma was so often the difference maker for our development side with his attacking flair and good Dele-esque off the ball movement. He is also a very hard worker who has a high work rate, is strong on the ball, and he also shows good concentration throughout matches. There is so much to admire about Paris Maghoma’s style of play as I went into great detail about last season, when I wrote an in-depth piece on the then second year scholar. He is one of those exciting but very well disciplined players who can adapt to the flow of matches.

Spurs’ loss is Brentford’s gain and I sincerely hope that Paris excels at the ‘ Bees ’ over the next couple of seasons. He is in my eyes a player who will without doubt play in the Premier League at some point in his career, and by playing for Brentford’s B team who play against some well established B teams as well as some big European clubs, this will undoubtedly aid his development as a player. Paris is the first of our very talented group of first year pros to leave and I am sad to see him go as I had such high hopes for him at Spurs, but also because he is a very polite young man who would always make an effort to say hello to me at matches. I would like to take this opportunity to wish the skilful midfielder all the very best of luck for the future at his new club, and to thank him for his great service to Spurs’ under 18’s and development side. I look forward to following his progress in the game !