Son Heung-min has been the star name on Tottenham's pre-season tour to Asia and Mikey Moore the 16-year-old capturing plenty of attention, but Jamie Donley has been the unsung hero within the squad.
The 19-year-old had a sensational season last time out for Spurs' U21s, with huge numbers of assists as well as goals as the leading figure in the Premier League 2 title and play-off triumph. The attacking midfielder's form earned him three Premier League appearances under Ange Postecoglou as well as an FA Cup cameo, in on all of those occasions he came on and did not look out of place at all.
It was always likely that the Tottenham boss would call upon Donley to be part of his pre-season plans, but few expected it to be as his left-back in the absence of the injured Destiny Udogie, who returned to training on Tuesday, and Ben Davies, who came back for Saturday's win against Vissel Kobe in Japan.
Donley was the left-back of choice in the three previous matches against QPR, Hearts and a behind-closed-doors friendly against Cambridge United. In Tokyo, he played the second 45 minutes against Kobe and that came after giving his all during 60 minutes in the heat just 48 hours earlier in a training ground friendly against Japan U20s.
Yet he was superb in the humidity inside the Olympic Stadium, running the show in the second half with Postecoglou's inverted full-back system allowing him to shine in the positions he would normally find and he could have scored twice himself and set up Moore twice, one being the assist for the winning goal.
So how has a 19-year-old attacking midfielder, originally a striker and number 10, found a very different position in Postecoglou's squad?
"I'm used to it now. I'll play wherever the manager wants me to. I'm still young, so I'm learning different positions. So, yeah, I'm enjoying it and if he wants me to play there, I'll play," he said.
"It's maybe not as challenging in possession, because the way he plays with the full-backs inverted I'm quite comfortable in that position, but obviously defensively it's something that I've got to learn and I might need to play there in my career sometimes, and yeah I'm learning.
"Matt Wells, who has been coaching the defence, has helped me a lot, and they work a lot on defensive drills. He's helped me a lot and I've just got to keep learning. It's about keeping a strong line. Obviously we look to play a strong line, ready to turn and run back to our own goal, being aggressive, showing outside, making sure the winger can't get any crosses in. Being aggressive is the main thing. It's about being brave as well."
Postecoglou is not one for many one-to-ones chats with his players, using his coaches to pass on the messages he needs to individuals, but there's certainly a big degree of trust from the Australian in the teenage academy product Donley to play such a different role ahead of others.
"He hasn't said much to me, but you'd think he obviously trusts me, that I can play that position, and if he trusts me then the players trust me and then I'm more than confident to take that role and do the best I can," Donley said amid a session in Seoul helping children from Make-A-Wish Korea with Tottenham's global football development coaches.
The teenager was not showing the effects of his exertions at the weekend and after more than 105 minutes playing football in the 35 degrees Celsius temperatures across less than 48 hours, you might have thought that Donley collapsing to the floor on Saturday after he played the late assist for Moore was through exhaustion, but it was not.
"It was a bit of relief actually. Mikey missed the first header [from my cross], and I missed with the keeper making the save and I hit the post. I thought, I've got to get something out of this game, but then I got the assist, so yeah, it was more of relief," he said.
As he mentioned, Donley had been a lick of paint away from scoring his first senior goal for Spurs with a low curling effort against Kobe that hit the base of the left-hand post and he also forced the goalkeeper into a flying save, while creating plenty for his team-mates, including the clever run that led to the match-winning assist.
"[With the shot against the post], it was Manor coming inside and I found myself in space on the edge of the box, and it was on my left foot and I thought it was dipping in, but it was unfortunate and obviously the volley the keeper made a really good save from. I thought that one was more in than the other one, but yeah, I'll keep trying to score and even if I'm at left-back I'll still try to score," he said.
On the late assist he admitted it was all about trying to do what Postecoglou wants.
"He speaks about running into that space a lot. It doesn't just have to be the midfielder, it can be the full-back as well and I put in another cross to Mikey, who missed the header, so I'm lucky to get the assist and that was good," he explained.
But how exactly did he manage to play twice within 48 hours in that heat and humidity?
"You've just got to learn and learn from these experiences. We have all the best recovery things for us, so yeah, I felt good going into the game, but yes especially in the heat [it wasn't easy]," he said.
It's difficult to ignore young Mikey Moore and Donley knows the 16-year-old better than most having played with him in recent seasons in the youth set-up. Moore has scored twice in official friendlies and provided an assist, while also adding further goals and assists in the behind-closed-doors matches and has never looked his age once alongside the senior Tottenham players.
"He's special," admitted Donley. "He's a special player. He's obviously just got to keep his head down and keep working, but if he keeps going the way he's going, he'll be a special player."
The theme of this tour has very much been the exciting young players the north London club now have at their disposal, with Donley and Moore arriving with U21s team-mates such as Will Lankshear, George Abbott, Tyrese Hall, Luca Gunter, Alfie Devine, Ashley Phillips and Dane Scarlett.
"I think last year the way the U21s played and obviously we won a couple of trophies, I think that that helped a lot with the confidence and I think the first team know that we're a good group of players, and I think it makes the young players feel more comfortable having more young players around them," said Donley. "You can bond with each other and I think we we've all done well. We've all impressed, so we don't feel or look out of place."
Spurs senior assistant coach Matt Wells mentioned in a recent interview that James Maddison had said he was amazed at how much talent there is among the young players in this current squad and the senior stars appear to have taken the academy starlets into the fold.
"Yeah, definitely [that's happened]. I think there are no players that look out of place or they don't think or look like they shouldn't be here. So everyone's doing well in training and everyone's been playing and that means everyone's got an opportunity to impress," said Donley.
On top of that group, Spurs have added another combined £50million in 18-year-old talent in summer arrivals Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall and Donley has been impressed by the duo.
"They've been very good as well. I think they've come in and settled quite easily," he said. "I know Archie quite well from England camps and stuff. So I got on with him well, and Lucas feels settled in with the team, and he's doing well too."
But is it slightly frustrating for Donley that the club have spent money on two new players, both a year younger than him, who can play in the position he finds most natural?
"I think that's just the way football is. People are going to be buying players and it's for me to to push harder and try to get ahead of them really, then when I get ahead of them, stay ahead of them. because that's just the way the game is," he admitted.
A queue of Championship and League One clubs are waiting to see what decision Postecoglou makes on Donley's immediate future and whether the youngster will go out on loan to continue his development or remain around the first team squad for the months ahead with a packed schedule thanks to the return of European football to the club.
"I haven't been told anything. I'm obviously here at the minute and on tour, so I'll just keep doing the best I can and then when I come back [to England], I'll probably find out a bit more of what's happening," he said. "I'm not sure [what I prefer], whatever the coaches think is best for me to be honest, and I trust what they think is right."
One man Donley certainly trusts and looks up to is his captain Son and he's always watching the South Korean closely to grab any things he can take on board for his own game and career.
"He's an unbelievable captain in the way he helps all the young boys and especially the new boys as well. On the pitch he's a leader. He does everything to the best of his ability," said the teenager. "Coming to Korea and the amount of people that support him, it's crazy, but that's him. He's just a world class player and everyone around the world loves him.
"On the training ground I look mainly at Sonny and just the way he trains. He's the club captain and everyone looks up to him."
Son would be the first to admit that Donley has been one of the unsung heroes of this tour, pitching in to help the team by playing in an alien position for him and yet still taking the opportunity to flourish and shine.
