Tottenham are reportedly closing in on the transfer of wing-back Djed Spence and the omens are good – Spurs have enjoyed plenty of success in signing some of the best talents from the Football League in years gone by.
Not all of the Lilywhites’ buys from the EFL have been great, but there’s never any guarantee and the performances of some of the players listed below have more than justified the occasional flop.
Spence, who looks set to complete a £20million move from Middlesbrough following a successful loan spell at Nottingham Forest, will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of two successful Spurs full-backs in particular.
Here, we’ve taken a look back at Spurs’ last 10 signings from Football League clubs to see how they got on.
Note: we’ve excluded players signed from clubs just relegated from the Premier League – such as Moussa Sissoko – and have only included young players signed initially for the academy if they had already made senior debuts at their previous clubs.
Chris Gunter
Gunter has had a fine career, becoming Wales’ most-capped player in history, but the full-back’s club career has largely been spent in the Championship.
Joining Tottenham from Cardiff City for £2million in January 2008, Gunter was still just 18 and considered a hot prospect.
He made just 16 appearances in all competitions for the north Londoners but looks back on his stay in a positive light, reflecting in 2012: “I had a brilliant time at Tottenham, it is a great club and I learned so much there so I was really thankful.”
Gareth Bale
Never heard of him.
Danny Rose
Unlike fellow Leeds United academy products Michael Woods and Tom Taiwo, Rose rejected a move to Chelsea a year prior to joining Tottenham in 2007.
Unlike Woods and Taiwo, Rose went on to fulfil his potential in London, making over 200 appearances for Tottenham and becoming an England regular, even if things went a bit sour towards the end.
READ: What happened to the two starlets Chelsea poached from Leeds in 2006
John Bostock
Having made his senior Crystal Palace debut aged just 15, Bostock was tipped to one day captain England. His career has been far more nomadic than expected; at the age of 30, his current club Doncaster Rovers are the 14th team he has appeared for, taking in spells in Canada, Belgium, France and Turkey along the way.
The midfielder was on Spurs’ books for five years but made just four first-team appearances, none of which came in the Premier League, and…
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