Spurs are brewing their own Max Dowman in 17-year-old who “scores bangers”

Tottenham Hotspur crashed out of the League Cup on Wednesday evening following a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United at St James’ Park.

Although it was a tough game away to the defending champions, Thomas Frank had the chance to give some of the younger players a chance to impress.

The Danish tactician had the likes of James Rosewell, Luca Gunter and Dane Scarlett on the bench, but did not hand over a single minute to the academy graduate on the night.

Meanwhile, their local rivals, Arsenal, started four of their academy graduates in the 2-0 win over Brighton, with Max Doman starting on the wing at the age of 15.

The most expensive former Tottenham academy players

Bringing in academy talent could save the club millions of pounds, as the emerging young star from the Under-21s prevents any need to buy a player in his position.

How much would it cost to sign Kane, who has scored 280 goals for Tottenham, at his best? Transfermarkt suggests his value has peaked at £132m, which shows how beneficial it can be to give young players a chance to shine.

As you can see in the table above, there are not too many valuable players who have come through Tottenham’s academy and gone on to establish themselves at elite level.

Madueke is the other most notable example, other than Kane, he never played a single match for Spurs at first-team level before moving to Chelsea and Arsenal.

Frank can, now, help Spurs find the next big academy graduate by making Luca Williams-Barnet their Max Doman this season.

Why could Williams Barnett be Tottenham’s doomman?

The Tottenham youngster is not quite as young as the Arsenal striker, having just turned 17 at the start of October, but he is still an incredibly young and promising talent.

Williams-Barnett, dubbed “special” by Under-23s scout Antonio Mango, played eight minutes off the bench against Doncaster in the League Cup earlier this season, but Spurs were already 2-0 up against the League One side when he came on.

A true show of faith in academy talent is putting them through difficult situations and situations to see how well they succeed; For example, 15-year-old Doman will start against Premier League side Brighton in the League Cup for Arsenal on Wednesday.

Williams-Barnett, according to Transfermarkt, has scored eight goals and provided seven assists in 11 matches in all competitions for the Under-21s this season.

Meanwhile, Micky van de Ven and Richarlison are the top first-team scorers at Premier League level, according to Sofascore, with three goals each.

Williams-Barnett, who analyst Ben Mattinson claimed is “scoring goals”, has also scored 20 goals and provided 12 assists in 23 appearances in all competitions at academy level in the 2024/25 season, according to Sofascore.

These stats show that the 17-year-old attacking midfielder, who can play as a midfielder or out wide, has the potential to score goals and assists for the first team if he can take his performance to the top level, which could be necessary given Van de Ven is the team’s top scorer in the Premier League.

However, it is up to Frank to discover his talent by unleashing him in the first team this season, as Mikel Arteta did with Doman, to throw him in at the deep end and see if his ability allows him to swim.