Spurs’ development side player Elliot Thorpe has left the club, as it has been officially announced by Elliot on Twitter. The Hinchingbrooke born footballer who had been at Spurs from a young age following a move from Cambridge United some years ago, made 18 competitive appearances for Spurs’ Under 23 side last season. Primarily a CAM, Thorpe can also play out wide, or as an eight or four. The Wales youth international who was part of the 2015 Victory Shield winning campaign with Wales, signed scholarship forms with Spurs for the 2017/18 season. Limited to only four appearances that season for the Under 18 side because of injuries (Elliot also had quite a big growth spurt during that period in time), Thorpe did make more appearances during the following season, especially during the second half of the 2018/19 campaign (he scored his first goal for the Spurs Under 18 side in a win over Fulham in the March of 2019). Elliot finished a fine second half of the season off by travelling to the Terborg Tournament to play for Spurs’ Under 19 side in the prestigious tournament.

An excellent pre-season with the Spurs Under 23 side (2019/20) followed, and it saw Elliot impress greatly in the Tournoi Europeen in France, which showed great promise for the season ahead. Although he had to wait until the January of 2020 to make his competitive debut for the Spurs Under 23 side, in a Premier League 2 game against Chelsea (he made an additional competitive appearance for the Spurs Under 23 side that season, and scored his first goal for them in that game). During the season just gone the 20 year old scored two goals (he scored a brace for the Under 23 side against Liverpool at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium) from 18 competitive appearances for Wayne Burnett’s Spurs Under 23 side.

A highly skilful and forward thinking midfield player with great close control and an eye for a forward pass, it was great to see Thorpe get a really good run of games for the Spurs Under 23 side in 2020/21. And at the end of that season he was rewarded with his first call up to the Wales Under 21 side. Not just a player with silky skills and flair about his game (he loves to take on players for skill and often glides past them), Thorpe is also an industrious and incredibly hardworking midfield player, who loves to get stuck in and press opposition players. He plays the game with real bite, and what I have always really liked about Elliot’s game is that he plays the game with a smile on his face, and is always enthusiastic on the pitch. A good finisher (he used to play as a centre-forward at times during his early days at Spurs) who can cause a lot of problems for defenders with his off the ball movement, Thorpe’s runs into the penalty area is one of his very best off the ball attributes. I was hoping that Elliot might have got a chance to play for the Spurs first team in pre-season, as I explained in an earlier piece which I wrote on Spurs Academy players and pre-season. I’m sad to see Elliot leave Spurs, as he is a player who I had high hopes for at the club, and one who was I hoping to see go out on loan in the near future. However, I do feel that it is a shame that not a lot of Spurs fans got to see Elliot play regularly, especially last season when games were behind closed doors, to see what his game is about. However, I very much look forward to seeing how Elliot gets on at his next club, and for what the future holds for him in the game.

I feel very optimistic for Elliot’s future in football, and hopefully he’ll get a really good chance to impress at his next club. Not only is Elliot a really quality young player with great potential, but he is also a really nice young man, who would always go out of his way to come over and speak to me and say hello to me at games if he saw me. I would like to wish him all the very best of luck for the future. Farewell and good luck, Elliot.