Luca Williams-Barnett is one of the most promising talents to emerge at Tottenham in recent years.
Williams-Barnett made his Tottenham debut in the Carabao Cup win over Doncaster in September, in a three-minute cameo and regularly stars for the youth team.
He is definitely on the radar of Thomas Frank, and even made the first-team bench for the senior Champions League clash with Slavia Prague.
Now, his progress looks set to be rewarded, with Spurs keen to keep him around at Hotspur Way.
Tottenham set to tie down two youth gems after Slavia Prague scenes
John Wenham, who is an expert when it comes to the youth teams in N17 has shared an update on professional contracts for Williams-Barnett and Tynan Thompson after the UEFA Youth League win over Slavia Prague.
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The duo were both among the goals as Tottenham’s youth brushed the Czech side aside with a 9-1 victory on 9 December.
Speaking exclusively to Tottenham News, he said: “We had a fantastic win on Tuesday in the UEFA Youth League, beating Slavia Prague’s Under-19s 9-1.
“What was notable about that was Slavia Prague, at the academy level, are no mugs, they have beaten Arsenal and scored five goals against them this season.
“They have also had some other impressive results, and they are a decent side, but when I saw Tottenham’s team on the day, I mentioned it as soon as the team news came out, it looked incredibly stacked, in terms of five or six England youth internationals in the team.
“You have got Luca Williams-Barnett, Luca scored five goals on the day, he is not a striker, which sort of tells you the level he is playing at right now.
“He is playing at a level similar to Mikey Moore, who is on loan at Rangers now, where he is completely dominant in youth football.
“Tynan Thompson grabbed a hat-trick, another player that Thomas Frank has already looked at in pre-season, Jun’ai Byfield was back after his broken hand, he was rewarded with a professional contract for the first time.
“They have qualified for the knockout stages, they finished ninth in the 36-team table, some big teams have not qualified, the likes of Bayern Munich, Napoli, Juventus, Newcastle and Arsenal are out of the competition.
“Tottenham will fancy themselves, for me, they are probably a striker and a centre-midfielder short at that level, for me to confidently sit here and say I think we will win that competition, but I think they will go far, purely based on they have got some outstanding talents.
“Really promising from Tottenham at the moment, and the fact that Byfield signed a new contract, I believe professional contracts are in the offing for Williams-Barnett pretty imminently and Thompson as well.”
Tottenham need to give Williams-Barnett an opportunity
The likes of Williams-Barnett and Thompson need to know that there is a route to first-team football in North London.
They are clearly far too good to be playing youth football long-term, and Frank needs to hand them more chances in the near future.
The fact that they seem willing to sign new deals to remain in N17, suggests that they have been assured that there will be opportunities to progress.