Ready for another transfer rumor? You know I am. Here’s one out of my own country: according to New England Revolution blog The Blazing Musket, Tottenham Hotspur has apparently already had talks with the Revs over 17-year-old American striker Peyton Miller. This comes on the heels of previous reports from FOX Sports that suggested “at least one” English club was taking a look at him. One of those clubs is apparently Spurs.
I’m not a MLS Watcher™. I have precious little time in my life for more than one football club, and I’ve made my decision in that regard already. So I can’t really tell you much about Peyton Miller, but from what I can glean from people who track the league and the Revs a lot closer than I do, Miller is a talented teenage forward with some pretty big upsides to his game. We’re about midway through the MLS season, and thus far Miller has played 11 matches, ten of them starts, for about 815 minutes of action, in which he has 1G+3A. His FBRef profile looks pretty decent as well — he definitely has some skills and looks like he could be a player who could develop into a solid professional. Or maybe not, but he’s the kind of young player whom someone is going to take a punt on, so why not Spurs?
One main reason to consider bringing him in now is so that he can establish himself as a home- and association-grown player for Spurs. That would mean that even if he doesn’t turn out to be a Champions League-caliber starter down the road, he’d still have significant value to other English teams if Spurs eventually opt to cut bait. Miller is very much a buy-and-loan kind of player — I wouldn’t expect him to feature now or for the next couple of years.
I know the idea of buying another teenager with promise isn’t going to appeal to some segments of the fan base, especially when we clearly have so many holes to fill already in the squad. But the truth is, Tottenham should be taking chances on a couple of these kinds of guys every season. Some, or even most of them won’t work out, but unless they crash and burn Spurs should be able to at least turn a small profit over them in a few years. And if we’re lucky maybe we end up hitting the jackpot once in a while.
There’s nothing about price or how well the negotiations have gone. Who knows if this will happen or not. But this does feel like a plausible move, and if it happens I’d be all for it.