Maximus Tainio predominantly played for Spurs’ Under 18 side as a right-back, during his time at the club. The son of former Spurs player Teemu Tainio, Auxerre born footballer Maximus joined the Spurs Academy full-time in the summer of 2017, having previously been with Finnish side HJK Helsinki. He made his league debut for the Spurs Under 18 side in a Premier League South game against West Ham United, which Spurs won 3-1, back in the October of 2017. Tainio would make an additional five league appearances for Scott Parker’s side, during the rest of that season. Also capable of playing in midfield, as a central-midfielder, Maximus made his competitive debut for the Spurs Under 23 side during the same season, when he came on as a late substitute in an away Premier League 2 game with West Ham United. During the following season, and during the early parts of it, then second year scholar Maximus made a good number of appearances for the Spurs Under 18 side. He played really well and really made that right-back position his own, during the first part of the season. Really good at making forward runs off the ball, the Finland youth international put in some excellent defensive performances.

Always playing the game at a really good intensity, and having a good balance to his game as well, Tainio captained the Spurs Under 18 side to a highly impressive 9-0 league win over West Ham United during the first half of 2018/19. In total Maximus made 14 competitive appearances for the Spurs Under 18 side during 2018/19, and it would have been a lot more had he not been unfortunate enough to miss the second half of the season because of injury. He also made two competitive appearances for the Spurs Under 23 side before missing much of the second half of the season, and he even went in goal during the latter stages of a Premier League International Cup game with Norwich City, making two good and important saves during his time in goal. Maximus left Spurs at the end of the 2018/19 season, after his contract came to an end. He joined Finnish Veikkausliiga side FC Haka, soon after leaving Spurs. His dad Teemu is the manager of FC Haka. Maximus then joined then Finnish second division side AC Kajaani, on a short loan. He made two competitive appearances for them, before returning to FC Haka, where he made 14 Finnish Veikkausliiga appearances, during the 2020 season.

The former Spurs Academy player enjoyed another good season of development at FC Haka, during the recent 2021 Finnish Veikkausliiga season. The now 20 year old footballer made 24 Finnish Veikkausliiga appearances for FC Haka during the 2021 season, scoring two goals and providing four assists, as he helped them to achieve an eighth placed league finish. Maximus seemed to be playing in a good variety of positions during his time at FC Haka. Last month he signed for fellow Finnish Veikkausliiga side HIFK on a permanent transfer. Maximus made his competitive debut for HIFK in the Liigacup, on the 28th of January, when he completed 77 minutes in central-midfield, as they won 1-0 against FC Inter. It’s great to see Maximus doing well for himself in the game, and I wish him a very successful 2022 season with his new club.