There are plenty of changes coming this summer at Tottenham Hotspur and that will mean different things for various young players at the club
16:28, 22 Jun 2026Updated 16:41, 22 Jun 2026
Tottenham Hotspur head coach Roberto De Zerbi will make decisions over plenty of young players at the club this summer
The potential exodus of young Tottenham players needing game time next season could open the door for some younger talents within the club.
Roberto De Zerbi is looking to create a more ready-made Spurs squad to compete higher up the table this season, with the arrival of Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Jan Paul van Hecke already to bolster the defence. The north London club have also held talks with Newcastle about signing Sandro Tonali and hold interest in more young but Premier League proven stars such as Mateus Fernandes and Savinho.
Building a team for now should ensure the north London club do not stumble through to another 17th-placed finish this season but it will also have another knock-on effect. That is the need to loan out or even sell more young players because of a campaign ahead without European football which will mean there will simply not be enough matches or minutes to go around.
Lucas Bergvall and Luka Vuskovic have already made their intentions clear to the club that they want to move on this summer to get regular football elsewhere while young attacking players such as Mikey Moore, Will Lankshear and Mason Melia are likely to head out on loan, unless De Zerbi really takes a shine to any of them in pre-season.
So what does that mean for any sort of pathway existing for Tottenham’s young players to come through at the club? Well apart from Archie Gray, who is so versatile he will get game time regardless especially if Bergvall moves on, De Zerbi will likely have to turn to the next age group below all of those loaned out or sold.
That could mean good news for young talents such as Jun’ai Byfield and Luca Williams-Barnett, who will both turn 18 as the new season progresses.
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With Vuskovic hoping for a move, and Brighton making a string of bids for the Croatian, as well as Cristian Romero and Radu Dragusin also tipped to leave N17 this summer, that would leave Micky van de Ven and Senesi as De Zerbi’s left-sided centre-backs and Van Hecke and Kevin Danso as the options alongside them on the right, with Ben Davies covering both the central defence and left-backs.
If the other three mentioned before depart north London, then 17-year-old centre-back Byfield could get the chance to build upon his impressive, assured Champions League cameos against Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt last season as well as his Premier League debut late on in the draw with Manchester City.
De Zerbi could have the Carabao Cup and early FA Cup rounds to give some minutes to youngsters, depending on the opposition, while at Tottenham injury problems always create opportunities for those who are ready.
In the attacking areas, if the other young players also depart then there could finally be a chance for Byfield’s fellow 17-year-old Luca Williams-Barnett to show what he can do.
The gifted young attacker, who can play anywhere across the attack or in midfield, has scored goals galore at youth level, many of them spectacular efforts, and got his debut in the final minutes of the Carabao Cup win against Doncaster Rovers last September but did not get off the bench in any of his experiences among the substitutes in the Premier League and Champions League.
Both Byfield and Williams-Barnett missed the end of the season with various growing pain issues but should be in a good place for next season if they knuckle down and impress De Zerbi in pre-season and get themselves taken on the summer tour to New Zealand and Australia. Tottenham being drained of young talented players this summer could at least end up being their gain.
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