Defender Maxwell Statham left Spurs at the end of the 2019/20 season, after having been at the club as an Academy player for many years. The Southend born player, who is the son of former Spurs player Brian Statham, signed scholarship forms with Spurs in the summer of 2017. He was part of a very talented age group that joined the club on a full-time basis for the 2017/18 season. Statham would make a good number of appearances for the Spurs Under 18 side that season, and he impressed during the following pre-season, when he put in some really strong defensive performances for the Development side. Maxwell would make further competitive appearances for the Spurs Under 18 side in the 2018/19 season, including one in the FA Youth Cup, and in total during his time at Spurs, he made over 25 competitive appearances for them at Under 18 level. Statham also made one competitive appearance for Norwich City’s Under 23 side while on trial at the club. However, the centre-half, who can also play at full-back, stayed at Spurs for the 2019/20 season. Impressing once again for the Development side during pre-season, Maxwell made the bench on two occasions for the Spurs Under 23 side in the Premier League 2 that season. Unfortunately the then 19 year old left the club at the end of that season, after his contract came to an end.

A very brave centre-half, who is very strong in the air, has good reading of the game and who is also good on the ball, Statham is a player who always give his all, and who has always impressed with his range of passing. After leaving Spurs in the summer of 2020, Maxwell was without a club for a little while, before signing for Watford in the September of that year. During the season that he spent at Watford, Maxwell played for the club’s Under 23 side throughout the 2020/21 season. Some of Maxwell’s teammates that season included former Spurs teammates Phoenix Patterson and Maurizio Pochettino. Maxwell and Phoenix left Watford at the end of the 2020/21 season, with Phoenix joining Irish side Waterford, and Maxwell joining Isthmian Premier Division side Hornchurch FC (former Spurs player Mark Stimson is the manager at Hornchurch) a month or so later, in September of 2021. The former Spurs Academy player got some good experience playing senior football for Hornchurch, during his relatively short time at the club. However, after impressing for Hornchurch, Maxwell was signed by National League South side (one division higher) Welling United, with their manager Peter Taylor also a former Spurs player.

Since signing for Welling United in October of this year, the now 21 year old footballer has made five competitive appearances for them in the National League South, since making his debut for them against Hemel Hempstead on the 23rd of October. Maxwell has been playing at centre-half for Welling, and he has so far helped them to keep two clean-sheets. The most recent clean-sheet for Welling United came yesterday, when they beat Tonbridge Angels 1-0 at home. I traveled to Welling to watch Maxwell play on Saturday. And also playing and captaining Welling United on Saturday was former Spurs player Olumide Durojaiye. However, Maxwell had a very solid game on the right side of central-defence, in a back four, for Peter Taylor’s side. Winning everything that there was to win in the air, making some nice forward passes out of defence and also impressing with his reading of the game, this was a very good performance from Maxwell. Starting all of Welling’s games since joining them last month, Maxwell will no doubt be learning a lot from the very experienced manager Peter Taylor, as well as learning a lot from playing senior football on a regular basis. It was great to see Maxwell perform so well in defence against Tonbridge Angels, and it’s really good to see him doing so well for himself. I’m sure that the young defender will continue to rise up through the leagues over the course of the next few years, and I wish him all the very best of luck for his future in the game.