Right-back Dermi Lusala (19) made his return to competitive action earlier this week, when he started for the Spurs Under 23 side away to Everton, in the Premier League 2. Born in nearby Edmonton, Lusala was previously with west London side Brentford, prior to joining Spurs as an Academy player. He made his competitive debut for the Spurs Under 18 side, in Spurs’ penultimate game of the 2018/19 Premier League South season, against Chelsea. He then signed scholarship forms with the club during that summer, and would go on and become a regular and important player for the Spurs Under 18 side during 2019/20, and would provide a good number of assists from out-wide. Dermi then made ten competitive appearances for the Spurs Under 18 side at the beginning of the following 2020/21 season, plus one appearance (his debut) for the Under 23 side, presumably before picking up an injury. The defender who can also fill in well at centre-half, didn’t feature for the Spurs Under 23 side during this pre-season (2021/22), and made a Spurs Under 23 squad for the first time this season earlier this month, in a Premier League 2 game against Manchester United.

Dermi made his return to competitive Academy football when he started for the Spurs Under 23 side against Everton, in the Premier League 2, earlier in the week. Starting at right-back and completing the whole of Spurs’ 1-0 loss, the first year professional often stayed deeper than left-back Marcel Lavinier, but overall I thought that he had a solid game defensively, especially when you consider that this was his first competitive game of football in a very long time. Lusala showed consistently at Under 18 level for Spurs, that he has a really good balance to his game. Good at defending, at right-back and at centre-half, but really good going forward, at taking players on for skill and at creating chances from out wide. Dermi, in my opinion did consistently really well for the Spurs Under 18 side during the 2019/20 season, and whenever he played at full-back he got up and down the flank really well. I really like how he is unpredictable with the ball and difficult to defend against when in the opponents half, but how he also is very versatile, good at defending and very good at making sliding challenges. I can see Dermi getting a good run games for the Spurs Under 23 side, from now until the end of the season. And I wish him all the very best of luck for the remainder of the season.