Midfielder Billy Heaps has been really impressive for Spurs’ Under 18 side during the second half of the 2021/22 season. From Stevenage in Hertfordshire, Billy joined Spurs from League Two side Stevenage around three years ago, and has since worked his way up the various youth ranks at Spurs, before joining the club full-time in the summer of 2021. The first year scholar (16) who made his competitive debut for the Spurs Under 18 side in an Under 18 Premier League Cup group-stage game against Leeds United last year, has also been called-up to represent England, at youth level in the past. Heaps had to wait until the November of 2021, to make his Premier League South debut, as a late substitute in a home game against Southampton. He has subsequently featured in every Spurs Under 18 league match apart from one, since making his league debut against Southampton, last year. A skilful midfield player, Billy Heaps has scored two goals and provided three assists from 17 appearances for Stuart Lewis’ side, so far this season.

Billy is a central-midfielder, who can also play as a defensive-midfielder, although he has also started matches out wide, on either flank so far this season. Heaps is a tenacious midfield player, has good pace, and is a really hard worker, who covers a lot of ground in midfield. Regardless of whether he has started matches out on the flanks or in central midfield, the first year scholar has shown his really good passing ability. He has great vision for a pass, is a creative player and one who is good with his long and short distance passing. Tidy in possession of the ball and clever in how he uses the ball, Billy Heaps is an efficient player, and one who has started to remind me quite a lot of Jamie Bowden, when he used to play for the Spurs Under 18 side. Both are very hardworking midfield players who also get forward well on the pitch, but they also have a good eye for goal, and are very good strikers of a football. 

Billy Heaps has made some terrific lofted passes in recent matches, and in Spurs’ second last Premier League South match of the season, yesterday against Brighton, the player who started the match out on the left flank, made two brilliant lofted forward passes to centre-forward Jamie Donley. From one of those passes, Donley scored a goal, but Heaps has made some similar passes, including one in the previous game against Norwich City (away), last Saturday. However, in that game against Brighton, Billy also scored a well taken goal from the left side of the Brighton penalty area. In another game, this time in a home Premier League South fixture against Norwich City, while starting in central midfield, Billy was quietly very effective in how he broke up play, used the ball and also in how composed he was in his overall play. Billy Heaps will be hoping to start the final Premier League South fixture of the 2021/22 season, against Arsenal on Saturday. 

Nile John made his return to the Spurs Under 23 side earlier in the week, in their Premier League 2 fixture with Derby County. The west London born professional footballer who is still on loan with League One side Charlton Athletic (he has yet to make an appearance for them this season), has made good strides this season with the Spurs Under 23 side. John is a versatile midfield player, who can play as a defensive-midfielder, a central-midfielder in a more forward role, a CAM or out wide as a winger. The England Under 19 international who has often been a regular for England at youth level, made his competitive debut for the Spurs Under 18 side in a 5-3 Premier League South win over West Ham United (he provided an assist in that game), during the 2018/19 season. John signed scholarship forms with Spurs during the summer of 2019, but during his first year of scholarship he missed quite a lot of football because of injury. John was however, in fine form for the Spurs Under 18 side towards the end of the 2019/20. Putting in really good performances against the likes of Swansea City and also Southampton, in the final game of that season.

The midfielder was a regular starter and an important player for the Spurs Under 18 side during the first half of the following 2020/21 season, as they started the season well. John made his competitive debut for the Spurs Under 23 side in a 5-1 Premier League 2 win in the January of 2021, and since that match he would spend the second half of the 2020/21 season with the Spurs Under 23 side. During that same season, Nile John made his competitive first team debut for Spurs as a substitute in a UEFA Europa League match against Wolfsberger AC. After spending much of the 2021/22 pre-season with the Spurs first team, Nile started Spurs’ first leg UEFA Europa Conference League play-off match against Paços Ferreira. He subsequently started the season with Wayne Burnett’s Spurs Under 23 side, and he has done really well for them, adding a good number of goals to his game. The first year professional has scored seven goals and provided four assists from 17 appearances for Wayne Burnett’s side, so far this season.

 Nile hasn’t made an appearance for Charlton Athletic’s first team (they only have one remaining fixture this season), apart from making some appearances for their Under 23 side. A midfield player who has almost always started matches as a CAM for Spurs’ Under 23 side this season, Nile John is a midfield player with outstanding ability on the ball. He is more than capable of gliding past players with the ball, with great skill. In addition he has good pace, and likes to go on skilful surging forward runs with the ball from midfield. John’s short passing is very good, and he is a player who can ride challenges well. This season in particular the 19 year old midfielder has shown that he is a clinical goalscorer, especially when receiving the ball on the edge of the penalty area. He has scored some really good goals this season, including two wonderful goals from distance in games against Leeds United and Manchester City. He is able to strike a ball really well, but it is his ability to be very unpredictable with the ball and also his ability to be very capable of producing incredible pieces of skill, to get past players, which is what in my opinion makes him such a promising player.

Nile has really impressed when starting matches as a CAM for Spurs’ Under 23 side this season, and his stats have also been impressive for goals and assists. An incredibly skilful and talented player, it will be interesting to see whether Nile John goes out on loan again next season.

Goalkeeper Thimothée Lo-Tutala has established himself as the first choice goalkeeper for France’s Under 19 side during this season. The former Brentford Academy player, who has been at Spurs for a good number of years, joined Spurs full-time in the summer of 2019, for the start of the 2019/20 season. Lo-Tutala was born in Paris, in France, but brought up in Hainault, Essex. While with Brentford, he would have been with future Spurs Academy players Dermi Lusala and Eddie Carrington, who were in the same age group as him at the west London club. First making the Spurs Under 18 squad as a substitute in a Premier League South game away to Brighton & Hove Albion during the 2017/18 season, Lo-Tutala made a decent number of appearances for the Spurs Under 18 side during his first season full-time with the club, in 2019/20. He also started both of the FA Youth Cup games that Spurs played in that season. However, it was during the following 2020/21 season that Thimothée Lo-Tutala really became the first choice goalkeeper for the Spurs Under 18 side. 

During the 2020/21 season, Lo-Tutala was a regular for then Spurs Under 18’s head-coach Matt Taylor’s side, and was named captain of the side on all but one occasion during that season. He also kept seven clean-sheets for the Spurs Under 18 side during that season, and would go onto make his debut for the Spurs Under 23 side in the Premier League 2, in a 6-1 home loss to Manchester City, in the final league game of that season. After featuring for the Spurs Under 23 side during pre-season, Thimothée made his first competitive start of the season for the Spurs Under 23 side in a 3-1 away win against Manchester City in the Premier League 2, and has since gone onto make a further seven appearances for Wayne Burnett’s side in all competitions, plus an additional two for the Spurs Under 18 side, during the early part of this season. Lo-Tutala has done really well in my opinion this season, in the games that he has started. There has also obviously been a lot of competition for a goalkeeping place in the Spurs Under 23 side, with Joshua Oluwayemi, Kacper Kurylowicz and Isak Solberg also all part of the Spurs Under 23 squad.

Really impressing in Premier League 2 games against the likes of Manchester City (at home) and Manchester United (at home), Thimothée was first selected to represent the country that he was born in (France) at Under 19 level for the September international break, of 2021. The goalkeeper has since made 10 appearances for a very talented France Under 19 side, and the goalkeeper who speaks fluent French has kept three clean-sheets so far for the French Under 19 side. So what kind of goalkeeper is Thimothée? Well he is a tall and very commanding goalkeeper, and one who doesn’t let physical centre-forward’s get the better of him from crosses and set-pieces. He is a reliable goalkeeper and I’ve always noticed in matches that he is very alert. Always talking the defenders through the game, and giving them instructions, Thimothée has good distribution, and he doesn’t take unnecessary risks with the ball at his feet. He is capable of rushing out of his goal at a good pace to clear the ball if needed, but he is also a very good shot stopper, and one who is capable of making excellent reflex saves, especially from close range (for example – the great late save that he made against AFC Wimbledon in the FA Youth Cup, last season).

Good at saving penalties, as he has shown on occasions since joining the club full-time in 2019, Lo-Tutala is in my opinion just a very good all-round goalkeeper, and someone who has got better and better over the past couple of seasons, continuing to make really good strides. At Spurs, the Academy goalkeepers who are at the club, are all very talented ones, and so Thimothée and also the very talented Joshua Oluwayemi have both had good opportunities of game time for the Spurs Under 23 side this season, which is great to see. I would like to wish Thimothée all the very best of luck for the remainder of the season. A season which he has done really well in, so far.

Still all scholars at the club, Spurs Academy goalkeepers Adam Hayton, Luca Gunter and Aaron Maguire all play for Spurs’ Under 18 side. All three goalkeepers have featured for the Spurs Under 18 side this season. Adam Hayton and Aaron Maguire are second year scholars with the club, while England youth international Luca Gunter is in his first year of scholarship with the club. The following short piece includes some notes on all three goalkeepers and their time at Spurs so far, since joining the club on a full-time basis. All very talented goalkeepers, this season just like in all of the others seasons that I have been watching Spurs’ Academy sides, Spurs have always had such talented goalkeepers.

Adam Hayton: Luton born goalkeeper Adam Hayton has made ten competitive appearances for Spurs’ Under 18 side this season. He joined Spurs full-time in the summer of 2020, and last season (2020/21) Adam Hayton made six appearances for the Spurs Under 18 side in all competitions, in his debut season with the club on a full-time basis, and he captained them on one occasion last season. For the start of this season Hayton started the first two Premier League South matches, and has so far made an additional eight appearances for the Spurs Under 18 side, as well as making the bench for the Spurs Under 23 side on occasions. Impressing greatly in the two games with Reading in the league, by making a number of match winning saves, Adam Hayton has been reliable throughout the season in the games that he has started, in my opinion. Still eligible to play for the side next season, as Thimothée Lo-Tutala has been this season (he has mainly been with the Spurs Under 23 side), the 17 year old goalkeeper is a very good shot stopper. He has shown that he is capable of making some very good saves, and he commands his box well as he showed as recently as the Norwich City game, on Friday.

A brave goalkeeper and one who I really think has been solid this season whenever he has been given the chance, Adam Hayton is clearly a very talented goalkeeper and one who will be hoping to get more starts for Stuart Lewis’ side during the remainder of the season. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Adam made the Spurs Under 19 squad that travels to The Netherlands for the end of season Terborg Tournament, as a second year scholar.

Aaron Maguire: A player who has represented the Republic of Ireland and also England at youth international level, second year scholar and Londoner Aaron Maguire has so far made four appearances for the Spurs Under 18 side in the Premier League South this season. Maguire made five Premier League South appearances for the Spurs Under 18 side last season, in his first season full-time with the club. Aaron is a calm goalkeeper who also shows great composure in matches, and who also impresses with his distribution. The goalkeeper who only this season was called-up to the Republic of Ireland Under 19 squad, reminds me in some ways of Academy goalkeeper Kacper Kurylowicz, when he was a second year scholar at the club. As like Kurylowicz, Maguire is good at rushing off his line and at making good saves when making his body big, to close down the angles. Aaron has kept one clean sheet this season, in a 7-0 league win over Birmingham City, and he has impressed every time that I have seen him play, including in the Under 17 Premier League Cup final with Manchester City, earlier this month.

The second year scholar like Adam Hayton, will still be eligible to play matches for the Spurs Under 18 side next season. Maguire is yet another one of the promising Academy goalkeepers at Spurs who has good potential in my opinion, and one who I’m looking forward to seeing more of over the next couple of seasons.

Luca Gunter: First year scholar Luca Gunter is a local lad from Enfield, who was previously with Queen’s Park Rangers. A tall goalkeeper with very good reflexes, Luca Gunter impressed greatly in his debut for Spurs’ Under 18 side last October, in a 0-0 Under 18 Premier League Cup game with Stoke City, at Hotspur Way. Gunter made a good number of impressive saves during that match for Spurs. A goalkeeper with very good positioning inside his box, and one who is also quick on his feet, and capable of making really fine saves. Luca has made an additional ten competitive appearances for Stuart Lewis’ side this season, and I think that just like Adam Hayton and Aaron Maguire, Luca has done well in a very talented Spurs Under 18 side. Possibly his finest game so far this season came in the FA Youth Cup fifth round tie with Wolverhampton Wanderers, earlier in the year. After doing well in the previous two rounds, where he made some really good saves, Luca Gunter made a great number of really fine saves in the FA Youth Cup match against Wolves, and his positioning throughout that 3-0 loss, was very good. Having already made the Spurs Under 23’s squad on two occasions this season, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the goalkeeper who recently signed his first professional contract with the club, make his debut for the Spurs Under 23 side next season.

Second year scholar Alfie Devine has been in excellent form for Spurs’ Under 23 side this season. The former Wigan Athletic player, who joined Spurs from Wigan in the summer of 2020, has scored nine goals and provided four assists for Wayne Burnett’s side, so far this season (he has also scored an additional two goals for the Spurs Under 18 side this season). The footballer from Warrington has undoubtedly been one of the most important players for the Spurs Development side this season, regardless of his impressive stats in regards to goals and assists. Devine, who was recently nominated for the Premier League 2 player of the month award for March, has shown real leadership and maturity for a second year scholar this season. He has mainly played for the Spurs Under 23 side throughout the season so far, apart from the odd game for the Spurs Under 18 side, mainly in the FA Youth Cup. Devine has been a regular starter for the Spurs Under 23 side, apart from missing some games in the autumn of 2021, because of injury.

After regularly starting games for the Spurs Under 18 side during the 2020/21 season, and becoming an important player for them as a first year scholar, Devine also played for the Spurs Under 23 side, particularly during the second half of the 2020/21 season. However, this season and after spending much of pre-season with the Spurs Development side, Devine has gone on to become a really important player for Wayne Burnett’s side. Often starting matches in the CAM role for the Spurs Under 23 side this season, Alfie has also done well whenever he has started matches out-wide, or in central-midfield. Starting the season really well, and putting in impressive performances against the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Derby County. Devine was in really good form before getting injured in the October of 2021. He returned as a second half substitute in a Premier League 2 home game against Manchester City in the December of 2021, and after that match he soon started scoring goals and providing assists again.

Very impressive performances against Crystal Palace and Arsenal followed, and the very consistent midfield player who has made the bench for the Spurs first team on two occasions this season, has also impressed when representing his country, England. A regular for the England Under 19 side, Devine recently scored a goal in a Euro Under 19’s 2022 qualifier against Armenia, during the recent international break. The Spurs player who only last season scored in his one and only appearance so far for the Spurs first team (in an FA Cup match against Marine), will be hoping to be included in the England Under 19 squad which will compete in this June’s UEFA European Under 19 Championships, in Slovakia. However, going back to Spurs, the 17 year old midfielder has shown throughout this season so far his ability to make the difference in matches when given the ball. He is a brave player, but one whose determination and impressive skill level has made him in my opinion one of the most impressive players in the Premier League 2 this season for Spurs, along with former Spurs player Dilan Markanday.

I have noticed this season when starting matches as a CAM or out on the wing, that Devine is always looking to make runs in behind the defence, at every opportunity. A very skilful player with good reactions, Devine is a midfield player who after receiving the ball will look to bring it forward at pace, taking players on by going on a surging forward run. With his good pace and physicality on the ball he is difficult to get the ball off, but he is someone whose fine movement off the ball always allows him to create that extra bit of space to receive it in a good area of the pitch. He is unpredictable and capable of creating wow moments in matches, but his tremendous work off the ball (he often likes to drop deep to receive the ball) certainly doesn’t go unnoticed. Devine is good in the air, and really likes to make a surging run from the centre of the penalty area to the near post at corner-kicks, providing the Spurs Under 23 side with a real outlet from corners. His weight of pass is good, as is his link-up play, and in one versus one situations in matches, he is often successful.

A player with many great attributes, it is possibly his ability to score goals and also play anywhere in forward areas, that makes him such an important player with real potential. He has shown time and time again this season, his clinical ability in front of of goal, and he has scored a real variety of goals so far this season. Devine has done so well this season for the Spurs Under 23 side, and his consistently impressive performances are from that from a player who has real potential for the future. I’m already looking forward to seeing what next season (2022/23) holds for Devine, who has adapted really well since joining Spurs, and it would be great if he got a good run of games for the Spurs first team in pre-season. 

Harvey White has been a key player once again for the Spurs Development side, this season. The Maidstone born footballer, who has so often been playing as the furthest forward of the two central-midfielders during this season, because of Brooklyn Lyons-Foster almost always playing in the defensive-midfield role. Harvey has contributed by scoring an impressive seven goals from midfield and also providing seven assists, from 20 competitive appearances. Last season (2020/21) I thought that Harvey really impressed during the pre-season of that season, with the first team. He then continued to be a mainstay of the Spurs Under 23 side, during the first half of the season. However, he then went out on his first loan, moving to League One side Portsmouth, during the second half of the season. While there, the midfielder made 22 appearances for Portsmouth, scoring one goal and registering one assist. The loan move to the English south coast, must have been an invaluable experience for Harvey at that stage in his career. As although he wasn’t always starting matches for Portsmouth, he still got a good amount of minutes at senior level.

I watched quite a lot of the matches that Harvey played for Portsmouth, last season. I thought that he did well, didn’t look at all out of place at that level, and showed his technical quality on the ball, while also showing good movement off the ball, as well. This season, Harvey started pre-season with the first team, before playing the final friendly game of pre-season, for the Spurs Development side, in a game against Barnet. Harvey started the new season with the Spurs Development side really well, and he soon started getting a good number of goals and assists. Often captaining Wayne Burnett’s Spurs Under 23 side this season, the midfielder was excellent in a Premier League 2 away game against Leeds United, earlier on in the season, which Spurs won 4-2. During that game the 20 year old showed great vision and passing ability with the ball, but he also showed really good tenacity as well, and also a real desire to want to win the game for Spurs. Always available to receive the ball, he looked very assured in the middle of the pitch.

In Spurs Under 23 matches this season against for example Blackburn Rovers away (the game finished 3-3), a 3-1 away win over Manchester City, and also impressive wins over Leicester City and Everton, Harvey along with now former Spurs Academy player Dilan Markanday, were often the difference for Spurs in those games. Harvey has shown on numerous occasions in the Premier League 2 and also the Papa John’s Trophy, a real desire to make late runs into the penalty area, from midfield. The player who often used to play as a CAM during the early stages of his football career, is a good finisher who will get an impressive number of goals from midfield. However, he is also a very creative midfield player, who can change a game by taking a chance on the ball, and making a decisive pass. A set-piece specialist, who is often praised by fans for his quality left foot. The Spurs player can also make quality passes off his right foot, and also scores on his right foot, as well. During a 4-0 Premier League 2 home win over Everton, earlier in the season, Harvey White completely controlled the game from start to finish. He scored a really well taken goal, but also created numerous good chances for teammates as well.

In games this season Harvey has continued to show good skill on the ball. And he is capable of taking players on for skill. However, it’s his footballing brain and craft on the ball, which has seen him excel for Spurs through the scholarship years, to the Under 23 side, and which has now seen him get into the first team setup (he has already made two competitive appearances for the Spurs first team, and has made the bench on nine occasions for them so far this season). I very rarely say this about footballers at this level, but Harvey, just like his old Spurs teammate and friend Luis Binks, is a player who has just never seemed to have a bad game at Academy level. At least from all of the games that I have seen him involved in over the years at Academy level. He seems to have become more physical in games this season at Under 23 level, and has also become even more vocal in games, after often being given the captains armband during the first half of the season. Now often making the bench for the first team in recent games, it’s great to see Harvey involved a lot in Spurs’ first team setup, recently. And it really is greatly deserved.

I really hope that Harvey White gets a chance in the first team in the near future. However, training with the first team and under the guidance of the excellent Antonio Conte, I am sure that Harvey is really enjoying this invaluable experience of being around the first team setup. I would like to wish Harvey all the very best of luck for the remainder of the season. 

Jamie Donley’s start to the 2021/22 season for the Spurs Under 18 side has been superb. The England Under 17 international who was born in Antrim, Northern Ireland, but brought up in Colchester, England, has shown great maturity during the Under 18 matches that I have seen him play this season, as well as in international games. Donley (16) is a centre-forward, but he is also very comfortable playing as a CAM as well. The first year scholar who has been at Spurs for many years, made his competitive Under 18 debut for the club in a 1-1 Premier League South draw with Leicester City, at Hotspur Way in November 2020. He scored Spurs’ only goal of that game. Donley made an additional 12 competitive appearances for Spurs’ Under 18 side that season, scoring two more goals. An excellent individual performance against AFC Wimbledon in that seasons FA Youth Cup, which saw the centre-forward score a brace, would make sure that Spurs progressed to the fifth round of the competition that season. Jamie has started the following 2021/22 season really well. He has made eight competitive appearances for Spurs’ Under 18 side so far this season, scoring a very impressive eight goals, and registering seven assists. In addition to his statistics from Spurs, Donley scored two goals from two appearances for Northern Ireland Under 19’s, and two goals from three appearances for England’s Under 17 side.

A tremendous athlete, who has a good amount of pace despite being tall, Jamie Donley has demonstrated some excellent athleticism so far this season. Strong in the air, and with a good jumping reach as well. Physical and good at holding the ball up and bringing others into play, Donley loves to drop deep into good pockets of space to really show his impressive range of passing (he has a consistently nice weight of pass, from whenever I have seen him play). He has shown that he is very clinical in-front of goal, and also that he scores all different types of goals, with some spectacular goals already scored this season. A player who likes to try and test the goalkeeper from long distance, Jamie is a good runner off the ball, and this season I have paid close attention to his impressive movement off the ball, and his willingness to make late runs into the box from playing in the CAM role. Donley is a very consistent performer and despite his great goalscoring form so far this season for club and country, he has really shown that he is a very unselfish player. He has really fine vision for a pass and he really does take responsibility with the ball. He is a creative and clinical forward who has already shown how effective him and centre-forward Jaden Williams are at linking up on the pitch in the Spurs Under 18 side.

Personally Jamie reminds me very much of Troy Parrott at the same age, in how creative he is with the ball and also his willingness to drop deep to get on the ball to try and create chances, even in these very early days. Both players press the opposition’s defence consistently well, and have a real tenacity about them. Whenever I have seen Donley play this season for Spurs and England, he has consistently shown a real desire to track back and make strong challenges to win the ball when out of possession. In addition both players have shown their ability to dribble really well with the ball, and also win a lot of free-kicks and penalties. Donley has really impressed me in all of the games that I have seen him play in so far this season for club and country, but the game against Reading, where he really showed the great all-round ability that he has, throughout the game and also that ability to link up so well with Jaden Williams, as both complimented each other for 90 minutes, was in my opinion his most impressive performance so far this season, that I have seen. Donley recently won the Spurs goal of the month competition for a simply outstanding overhead kick goal that he scored in a game against West Bromwich Albion, in October. Another excellent goal, this time a lobbed effort was scored against West Ham United during the previous month.

This has been a sensational start to the season from Jamie Donley, and I’m hoping that he’ll get a chance to play in the Spurs Under 23 side at some point this season, but all in good time. Donley will also be key for the Under 18 side in this seasons FA Youth Cup, and of course during the remainder of the league season.