With Dennis Cirkin and Harvey White among the exciting youth prospects appearing up in the match day squad, and many more hoping to make the step up, it’s fair to say the Spurs Academy production line is looking as promising as it’s ever been.
But what was it like 10 years ago? Which young players were turning out regularly for the Reserves and the Academy then? Who ended up making it as a senior pro? Where are they now? We take a look:
Goalkeeper
Jordan Archer
Archer moved to Tottenham’s Academy from Charlton Athletic in 2009. During his time at Spurs he had a variety of loan spells – Harrow Borough, Bishop’s Stortford, Wycombe Wanderers, Northampton Town and Millwall – but he didn’t make a senior appearance for Spurs before being released in 2015.
However, he joined Millwall on a permanent basis and made 166 appearances for the club. It was during this time that he made his international debut for Scotland against Peru.
Archer is now with Motherwell after successive short-term deals with Oxford United and Fulham.
Also worth mentioning: Mirko Ranieri – Ranieri was a regular for the Reserve squad in 2010/11 and was an Italian youth international. He was forced to retire in 2012 after suffering a knee injury. He is now a Product Manager at Google.
Defenders
Ryan Fredericks
Ryan Fredericks joined Spurs in 2009 and appeared a handful of times in the Europa League, making his full debut against Hearts in 2011. However, he wasn’t able to force his way into the first team squad and left Spurs for Bristol City in 2015 after loan spells with Brentford, Millwall and Middlesbrough.
However, Fredericks is definitely one of the more successful players on this list having featured as a regular starter for Fulham and West Ham, his current club, in the Championship and the Premier League, respectively.
Jake Nicholson
Jake Nicholson transferred to Tottenham from West Ham in 2009 and was a regular starter for the Reserves in 2010/11, equally comfortable in the centre of defence or midfield. A cameo off the bench in a Europa League qualifier proved to be his only senior appearance for the club, however. Still a youth player, he hit the headlines after being pictured with Katie Price/ aka Jordan on a night out.
Released in 2013, Nicholson then joined Greenock Morton, a move allegedly engineered by another celebrity contact, Tamer Hassan. A move back to English football with AFC Wimbledon then followed and Nicholson scored on his debut in a 4-3 win. However, the club were then docked the three points after Nicholson was fielded as an ineligible player.
After leaving Wimbledon in 2015, he had spells at five different clubs in two years before retiring in 2016. He is now Director of Love Churros.
Kevin Stewart
Born in Enfield, Kevin Stewart entered Tottenham’s Academy in 2010, but his contract expired in 2014 without him having made a senior appearance.
Shortly afterwards he joined Liverpool and spent the next three years out on loan before joining Hull City after making 20 senior appearances for the club.
The £8 million transfer gave his career a much needed boost for a time, and he went on to make 77 appearances, scoring 3 goals. However, he was released at the end of last season following Hull’s relegation to League One and is still without a club. At just 27, Stewart clearly has a lot of football left in him and will hope a new club comes in for him soon.
Zaine Francis-Angol
A regular at left-back for the Reserve and Academy XIs in 2010/11, Zaine Francis-Angol left the club in 2011 without making a single senior appearance.
He joined Motherwell making nearly 80 appearances for the club before being released in 2015. Since then he has been predominately plying his trade in the National League turning out for Kidderminster Harriers, AFC Flyde and his current club Boreham Wood. He spent last season in League One with Accrington Stanley.
Francis-Angol is a full international and has received 18 caps for Antigua and Barbuda.
Also worth mentioning: Olumide Durojaiye – Durojaiye appeared regularly for the Reserve and Academy squads in 2010/11, but was released at the end of the season. Initially joining Falkirk, he now with Haringey Borough, his fourth spell at the club.
Midfielders
Alex Pritchard
Starting out at West Ham, Alex Pritchard switched to Spurs in 2009 and was considered one of the clubs most exciting prospects. An attacking midfielder and an England U21 international, he was even linked to Real Madrid and Barcelona, such was his promise.
He had four loan spells while with Spurs, and was a huge success at Swindon and Brentford in particular. Despite this, Pritchard only featured twice for the Spurs senior team and was sold to Norwich City in 2016 for £8 million.
Although bright in patches, injury and inconsistency hampered his time at Carrow Road and he moved on again to Huddersfield Town for a reported £11 million in 2018. Although he has made 70 appearances for the Terriers, it is fair to say that Pritchard, now 27 years old, has yet to reach the heights expected of him.
Dean Parrett
Dean Parrett made a high profile move to Spurs from QPR in 2007 after beating off competition from the rest of the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’. At just 15 years old, Parrett was an England youth international and the club paid more than £1 million for his signature.
However, despite making his first team debut at the age of 17, Parrett wasn’t able to live up to the hype. After five loan spells away from the club, Parrett was released and joined Stevenage in 2013.
From there his career kicked on and Parrett a carved a good reputation in Leagues One and Two, making nearly 200 appearances for Stevenage (across two spells with the club), AFC Wimbledon and Gillingham.
After joining Stevenage last season for the second time, Parrett was released after the club were relegated to the National League. He is now without a club.
Tom Carroll
A gifted, creative player with a real eye for a pass, Tom Carroll was often described as the heir to Luka Modric and with 30 appearances for the first team in 2015/16, it looked like that prediction might come to pass.
It wasn’t to be. With Spurs bringing in Victor Wanyama and Moussa Sissoko, and with players like Mousa Dembele already ahead of him, game time wasn’t forthcoming. He also struggled to convince those who felt he was too lightweight to succeed at the top level.
A permanent move to Swansea followed and he made a bright start, becoming a mainstay of their side. However, after the club were relegated at the end of the 2018/19 season, his form tailed off and he struggled with injuries.
A loan move to Aston Villa in January 2019 followed, but he managed just 35 minutes of football with a hip injury effectively ending his time at Aston Villa before it even began.
He is now with QPR, a club he joined on loan while at Spurs, and has appeared 11 time so far this season. Let’s hope move revives the career of a talented player who should be entering the peak years of his career.
Massimo Luongo
Massimo Luongo moved to Spurs from Australian semi-professional side APIA Leichhardt FC and, although he didn’t make the cut at the club, he has still enjoyed a very successful career in the Championship and at international level.
He only managed one appearance for Tottenham and it wasn’t a happy debut – he missed a penalty in the third round League Cup which resulted in a 7-6 shootout win for Stoke.
After a loan spell with Ipswich he joined Swindon in 2013, initially on loan before making the switch permanent. He was then signed by former Spurs coach Chris Ramsey for QPR and later captained the team. He joined Sheffield Wednesday in 2019 and has made 300 senior appearances so far in his career, scoring 27 goals.
Although eligible to play for Indonesia and Italy, Luongo chose to represent the country of his birth, making his debut for Australia in 2014 against Ecuador. He has gone on to win 43 caps scoring 6 goals and was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament in the Socceroo’s 2015 AFC Asian Cup win.
Also worth mentioning: Jake Livermore and Ryan Mason – Livermore and Mason made a handful of appearances for the reserves in 2010/11, but spent the vast majority of the season out on loan. Both made 50+ senior appearances for Tottenham and both have international caps for England.
After both moving to Hull City, Livermore now plays for West Bromwich Albion whereas Mason is now a youth coach back at Tottenham, having been forced to retire prematurely after a suffering a serious head injury.
Strikers
Harry Kane
This one has done alright, hasn’t he?
While the narrative that Kane was a very late developer is overstated – he was a regular scorer for Spurs’ Reserve and Academy teams and appeared at every youth level for England – few would have predicted that he would go on to become the most lethal striker in world football.
In 2010/11 he was was scoring at a decent rate for the reserves and went out on loan to Leyton Orient in the second half of the season, scoring 5 goals in 18 games. Loan moves to Millwall, Norwich and Leicester followed and, although Kane made his first appearance for Tottenham in 2011, but it wasn’t until the 2013/14 season that he really made his breakthrough.
In April 2014 he started his first Premier League game for Spurs and capped it off with a goal, the start of a three game scoring run. The rest, they say, is history.
200 goals in 300 games for Tottenham, 150 of them in the Premier League. 2 Premier League Golden Boots to go with his 2018 World Cup Golden Boot. Captain of his country with 50 caps and 32 goals. He is on course to break all sorts of records as he enters the best years of his career. Already a Spurs great and one of our own.
Kudus Oyenuga
Unfortunately, Kudus Oyenuga has not had the same success as his strike partner (although in fairness, few players have). Joining Spurs in 2008, Oyenuga showed real signs of promise and scored regularly for the Reserves and Academy in 2010/11.
However, a loan move to Finnish side MyPa was the start of a journeyman career. Loan moves to Bury and St Johnstone followed before being released in 2012 with Oyenuga joining Conference South side Hayes & Yeading United.
18 goals in 40 games followed, but a move to Dundee United didn’t work out and he has moved club to club since. He is now at Brentwood Town in the Isthmian League North, his 17th club.
Also worth mentioning: Shaq Coulthirst – A regular starter for the Academy team in 2010/11, Coulthirst spent much of his time at Spurs out on loan. He made one sub appearance for the first team, but moved to Peterborough in 2017. He then had the most successful spell of his career so far with Barnet where he scored 33 goals in 94 games. He transferred to Boreham Wood this summer.
Harry Kane collects his third match ball of the year, despite referee Jonathan Moss’ best efforts.
Lilywhite Rose 