4 Tottenham Players Who Should Be Loaned Out in 2015/16 Season
Sending young players out on loan to gain valuable senior experience is an inexact science. There are no guarantees that an individual will respond positively to first-team football, and it won't necessarily help every player develop.
Last season, Tottenham Hotspur saw how the experience can be beneficial. Academy-produced talents Harry Kane, Ryan Mason, Danny Rose and Andros Townsend all contributed to the first team, each of them having previously spent time learning their trade elsewhere in the Football and Premier Leagues.
Others, such as Tom Carroll and Alex Pritchard, will also want to compete following their time away in the previous campaign.
With their players already back, or preparing to return for pre-season, Tottenham will be in the process of deciding who else could benefit from broadening their horizons. The following article looks at four such players who should be loaned out in 2015-16.
They are not the only ones who will be sent to try their luck playing first-team football with another team. But each represents the different circumstances many of the Premier League outfit's young men will be facing in the next few months and beyond.
First up, one of two teenage midfielders who will be looking to build momentum after receiving their first-team debuts last season.
Harry Winks
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Harry Winks made his Tottenham debut in 2014-15 off the bench in the Europa League. He only logged a few minutes against Partizan Belgrade, but the occasion was enough for the midfielder to describe it as "by far the best moment of my life so far" to his club's official website.
The signs are positive the 19-year-old could soon have a few more moments to best even that one.
Two mature performances in Spurs' post-season tour of Malaysia and Australia have only added to the optimism over his first-team credentials. Since then, ESPN FC's Pete O'Rourke has reported he is set to be rewarded with a new contract.
With Lewis Holtby and Paulinho gone, and Etienne Capoue and Benjamin Stambouli possibly set to join Watford, according to Sky Sports, head coach Mauricio Pochettino may be considering promoting Winks to the first-team on a full-time basis. Speaking earlier this summer, again to his club's website, the player was unsurprisingly keen.
"It’s been brilliant training with the first team and although the intensity is obviously a lot higher than the youth levels, it’s great because you’re training with some top class international players and you’re only going to improve in that situation."
If that opportunity is not forthcoming straightaway, some time getting real football under his belt will be no bad thing for Winks. An assured and confident midfield presence, there will no be shortage of clubs keen to see if the England youth international can cut it with them.
Josh Onomah
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Like Winks, Josh Onomah was another Tottenham teenager to make his debut last season. Still 17 then, he made his debut in the FA Cup third-round replay defeat of Burnley.
Understandably, he was just as happy as Winks. "I’ve been waiting for this all my life and now that it’s come, I’m speechless," he said to Spurs' official website.
A member of England's 2014 European Under-17 Championships winning team, Onomah's purposeful runs and increasing proficiency in other aspects of midfield play have evidently caught the eye of Pochettino too. He's deceptively languid and has the potential to become a talented all-rounder in the position.
Onomah finished his season getting some minutes in Spurs' year-ending tour too. He started regularly in the youth team's run to the FA Youth Cup semi-final stage prior to that and featured for the under-21 side.
Giving him more time to work on his game in the latter setup may be first on the agenda this season. But given the clear optimism around the 18-year-old, there is a good chance he will be deemed ready to test himself outside of north London before the campaign is over.
The aforementioned likes of Kane, Mason and Townsend all got opportunities in the lower reaches of the Football League at similar points in their progression. They struggled at times (particularly the latter two), but the time elsewhere ultimately served them well, toughening them up for greater tests to come in the Premier League.
Onomah could be set to follow suit.
Shaquile Coulthirst
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One of a number of Tottenham youngsters to have their stay at the club extended in the Premier League's announced list of retained and released players, Shaquile Coulthirst will hope to push on even further in 2015-16.
On the third and fourth loan spells of his career, the striker spent over half of last season with Southend United before concluding his campaign with York City. Though he only scored four with the Essex club, his goals contributed to 10 valuable points won on the way to securing the playoff place from which they would win promotion.
"I couldn’t guarantee the number of games Shaq was going to play if he had stayed so they decided to call him back as they want to do all they can to help him get another contract somewhere," manager Phil Brown told the Southend Echo's Chris Phillips of Coulthirst's departure. He would go on to feature 11 times for York, notably netting twice in a 4-1 win away at Mansfield Town.
At 21, Coulthirst's situation is more precarious than Winks or Onomah's. Unlike his earlier mentioned peer Pritchard, he is still seemingly way out of the first-team picture and battling to prove he can have a future with Spurs.
It could be decided this summer that Coulthirst's future is best served by moving him on. Given he has scored goals in the Football League, albeit not prolifically, he could attract some bids.
If Spurs are not ready to cut ties with Coulthirst, then a loan move up to League One (where he previously had a brief spell with Leyton Orient) or perhaps even the Championship is the necessary next step. He may be found wanting, but the lively and sharp attacker making the grade should not be ruled out yet.
The examples of Mason and Rose should give him hope he could yet find his place at Tottenham, even a few years into his 20s.
Milos Veljkovic
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"Next season my goal is to play for Tottenham’s first team," Milos Veljkovic ambitiously told the Independent's Jack Pitt-Brooke in May. He echoed the sentiment speaking to his club's website after helping Serbia win the Under-20 World Cup: "My ultimate goal is to play more games for Tottenham’s first team but I’ll have to prove myself every day if I’m to do it.”
Like Coulthirst, the versatile Serbian made his Spurs debut back in 2013-14, when then-boss Tim Sherwood drafted him in for substitute appearances in late-season wins over Sunderland and Aston Villa. Had Sherwood stayed on, perhaps he would have followed Nabil Bentaleb in establishing himself in the campaign just past.
Yet, while Pochettino decided to send him out on loan after making just one subsequent Spurs appearance—in the home Europa League win over Limassol—Veljkovic's confidence suggests he has been given some indication the Argentinian intends to hand him an opportunity at some point.
Capable in either defence or midfield, the 19-year-old impressed with his composed work on Spurs' North American tour last year. The opposition may not have been fearsome, but he did not look out of place among his more experienced colleagues.
Competition for places and injury denied Veljkovic his chance to build on it with Middlesbrough and Charlton Athletic, but he clearly has promise.
Pochettino may be preparing to utilise him as soon as this season. But with many players battling for minutes in his positions at Spurs, at least a few additional months of football on loan may end up being beneficial.
Another good pre-season with Tottenham would certainly attract Championship interest. Considering his work with Serbia's under-20 team, there may be one or two Premier League clubs keen to hand him some top-flight experience too.
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