Tottenham youngster Luca Williams-Barnett took another step forward in his development earlier this week when he was included in the club’s first-team squad photo.
Having travelled on the club’s pre-season tour Down Under over the summer, Williams-Barnett is now officially part of Roberto De Zerbi’s first-team squad.
Described by the Spurs boss as “a potential top player”, the electric young winger is pushing for further first-team involvement after making his senior debut under Thomas Frank last season.
De Zerbi has been reluctant to use Spurs’ academy players so far and, surprisingly, left Williams-Barnett at home as his side crashed out of the Carabao Cup away to Liverpool last month.
However, with Spurs struggling for goals and attacking impetus, Williams-Barnett could get his chance as De Zerbi looks for different solutions going forward.
Versatile, direct and with an eye for goal, the 18-year-old looks ready for first-team football, even if De Zerbi is cautious about throwing him into a team that currently sit rock bottom of the Premier League table.
“It is a different job to manage the young, young player, especially when this young player is a potential top player, because you can’t put them in the bad condition or bad situation, but also you can’t forget them,” De Zerbi said before the international break.
“I didn’t forget about Luca, like Malachi [Hardy, young defender], but we have to find the right moment.”
De Zerbi has a predicament on his hands. Several key attacking players are still working their way back to full fitness, while opportunities are scarce with Spurs not in Europe and now out of the Carabao Cup.
Dejan Kulusevski is back in training and closing in on a return to action after nearly a year and a half on the sidelines, while Chelsea loanee Mykhailo Mudryk is expected back from an ankle injury in the next three to five weeks.
Williams-Barnett is therefore set to move further down the pecking order, and while the teenager is clearly on De Zerbi’s radar, a loan move could suit all parties when the January transfer window opens.
De Zerbi has been at pains to insist that Spurs’ academy players are not far from his thinking, but ultimately the club’s dire league position means he is reluctant to expose the likes of Williams-Barnett and Hardy.
A first-team promotion is vindication of Williams-Barnett’s progress over the last 12 months. He produced 16 goals and eight assists in 20 appearances for Spurs’ youth teams last season.
The next move is for him to get consistent senior minutes under his belt. But it seems unlikely he will get that at Spurs, given the club’s current plight.
Spurs have struggled to manage the careers of some of their brightest young academy players in recent years. Williams-Barnett, though, is too good to let slip through the net.