This afternoon it was announced that promising Spurs youngster Harvey White had joined League One side Portsmouth on loan until the end of the season. Coincidentally joining the team who he scored his first and only goal in senior competitive football against, in the EFL Trophy back in 2018. The 19 year old left footed central midfielder joins a talented Portsmouth side who are challenging to get promoted to the Championship this season. A regular for our under 23 side this season, White has ten goal involvements for Wayne Burnett’s side (three goals and seven assists) from 11 appearances. The Maidstone born player and England youth international also played for Spurs’ first team in a good number of games this pre-season, impressing against Championship sides during those friendlies. White also played twice for the Spurs first team in competitive games this season, with his most recent appearance coming against non-League side Marine in the FA Cup. Portsmouth seem to have changed their formation a fair bit this season, so it will be interesting to see where White is played during the remainder of the season. Will he fill in at left back on occasions? As a versatile player it will be interesting to see whether he ends up playing more football there (he would be competing with regular left back Lee Brown), or in central midfield, or even further forward as a CAM where he could really show the excellent creative side of his game. However, whereever he plays for Kenny Jackett’s side, White will most importantly be getting regular game time at senior competitive level, in a league that will no doubt provide the young midfielder with invaluable experience.

Portsmouth currently have Andy Cannon, Ben Close and Tom Naylor (captain) as their senior central midfielders, so for now Harvey will be competing with them for a place in the Portsmouth team. A very reliable, consistent, hardworking and creative midfield player, Harvey White is a very technical player who has been at Spurs for most of his life. Able to anchor and patrol the midfield and keep things moving in the central areas of the pitch as well as breaking up play, White has also demonstrated time and time again at both under 18 and under 23 level for Spurs his ability to step forward with the ball and make adventurous and defence splitting forward passes. He may not be of big build yet, but he is deceptively strong and quick, and he is a brave player too, who like Oliver Skipp before him is not at all afraid to use his body to stop the ball and make blocks. Good with both feet but extremely strong with his left foot, the Spurs youngster is somewhat of an expert set piece taker, and more often than not he puts the ball right on the head of one of his teammates from free-kicks and corner kicks, something which could come in very useful for Portsmouth. A fine reader of the game and somebody who has a great footballing brain for such a young player, White has registered a lot of assists at youth level for Spurs over the years. He possesses great vision and also has an eye for goal and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he got a couple goals for the south coast club during the remainder of the season, especially when you consider that he is so so good at scoring free-kicks which are from the edge of the box, and also penalties.

The Englishman has been superb for our various youth sides since joining Spurs full-time in 2018, and he has shown his ability to help out the defence, work incredibly hard for the team and create quality chances too. Harvey is a really exciting young player who is capable of dictating games from midfield, and I strongly believe that this is the perfect loan for him, and one which will develop him even further as a player. His forward passing and set piece taking will create so many chances for the Portsmouth forwards, that I am sure of. He offers a lot as a midfielder and I am really looking forward to following his progress at Portsmouth and also doing a fair few write ups of his matches for them (Portsmouth play AFC Wimbledon tomorrow night). I would like to wish Harvey a very successful loan spell, and I look forward to seeing him return to Spurs in the summer.