Spurs want Birmingham youth to challenge Lennon and Townsend
Published:Of the four out-and-out wingers among Tottenham’s number this season the two who can’t get into the team at the moment aren’t far off being a carbon copy of each other.
Aaron Lennon and Andros Townsend are both young (ish) English wide men possessing an abundance of pace, direct dribbling skills and a final ball – or in Townsend’s case, shot – lacking the precision a professional footballer should possess.
But, give the 11/2 top-four shots some credit because for all the glaringly obvious hints that Mauricio Pochettino has no use for that type of player (the pair have made one combined Premier League start this season), the club haven’t been put off pursuing a young pretender to the duo.
Meet 18-year-old Birmingham prodigy Demarai Gray, an England U19 international who is operating on the fringes of the recently managerless Blues squad and attracting interest not only from Spurs, but Liverpool and Arsenal too.
The Reds reportedly inserted a first-option clause into Gray’s contract as part of the loan move that Jordan Ibe made to St Andrews last term, but it’s thought that they won’t be making use of it any time soon.
That leaves the Lilywhites in the driving seat to sign a player who has scored once from his five Championship starts this season and won Birmingham’s Academy Player of the Year award for a stellar campaign last year.
Here’s the YouTube video Birmingham posted in Gray’s honour when announcing the award, which features lots of short clips of the player running…
In fairness, the former Cadbury Athletic youth does possess a fair amount of talent as seen by this youth-team goal he scored against Manchester United last year:
Should he make the switch to White Hart Lane and prove to produce a more reliable end product than Lennon or Townsend, there is every chance he can jump ahead of the two in the pecking order. Or, he could just be sent out on loan for a few years.
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