Tottenham Hotspur have officially announced the signing of Will Lankshear from Sheffield United.
The 17-year-old has been signed on a three-year contract that expires in 2025. The club have also stated that to begin with, the forward will join the club’s academy.
According to Sky Sports’ Lyall Thomas, the fee is believed to be in the region of £2 million.
17-Year-Old Will Lankshear has officially signed for Tottenham Hotspur
🙌 We are delighted to announce the signing of Will Lankshear from Sheffield United.
The 17-year-old forward has agreed a deal that will run until 2025 and will join up with the Club’s Academy.
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) August 31, 2022
Who is Will Lankshear?
With no senior appearances to his name, and very few mentions in the media before this move, many fans have very little knowledge of the forward.
Lankshear is a 17-year-old English forward, meaning that Tottenham have managed to bag themselves a very talented homegrown player.
Spurs fans will also be happy to hear that there is the possibility that they have just stolen a top talent from their fierce rivals Arsenal.
The 17-year-old was released by the Gunners last summer before being snapped up by Sheffield United, and Tottenham will be hoping that Lankshear can use that disappointment to fuel his progression.
After all, what better place to prove a point to your ex-club than at their most bitter rivals? And there is every reason to believe he can do so.
With Troy Parrot and Dane Scarlett both currently out on loan, Lankshear should find academy game time relatively easy to come by.
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https://twitter.com/InsideSpurs1/status/1564901170015277056?t=NKUfh2-jLTv5c0TOV9gXxg&s=19
The Academy Player Approach
Chelsea are perhaps the best club in England at snapping up talent from other academies.
They often cost very little and either Chelsea acquire a future first-team player, or they are able to sell them on in the future profit.
Therefore, this strategy is a win-win more often than not.
Look at the recent academy graduates they have sold, for example. Marc Guehi, Fikayo Tomori, Tammy Abraham – the list goes on. This system is effective and Chelsea made a huge profit on all three of those players mentioned.
Many people believe this strategy is wrong as it leaves many young players stuck out on loan for years on end, and there is an argument to be had in that regard, But, it certainly is effective.
With this move, it seems as though Spurs are perhaps trying to adopt a similar tactic.
Daniel Levy is the master at running a football club sustainably, and with the building of their new stadium, the club are perhaps exploring avenues of generating more money to clear that debt. As we have seen with Chelsea, this is a very effective way to do that.
If Tottenham are able to master this strategy too, then they’ll be making a consistent profit within a few years. Is Will Lankshear the start of a transfer revolution at Spurs?
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