Watch Out For Tottenham’s Josh Onomah

A glance around the internet’s Premier League previews suggests that a buzz is building around Tottenham midfielder Josh Onomah.

From The Ringer to The Guardian, Onomah is rumored to be one of the next big revelations in English football. Along with the likes of Manchester City’s Leroy Sané and West Ham’s Reece Oxford, Onomah appears primed to break out.

This sentiment isn’t unfounded. Onomah has promise enough to earn 19 appearances in all competitions in Tottenham colors last season, mostly from the bench. He didn’t score. He didn’t set up any assists. For a 19-year-old with no professional experience though, this was a big step.

That Onomah earned those minutes — a total of 868 in all competitions per Transfermarkt — says everything about the his potential future at the club. Here was a young player, fresh from the academy. Just one full season with Spurs’ under 21 development side. No loans out to teams in lower leagues. Virtually no hype. And yet Mauricio Pochettino trusted him with time on the pitch, and even with a small handful of starts.

There’s still some obstacles ahead for Onomah. As exciting as he is, he will still have to compete with Tottenham’s other bench staples like Ryan Mason and Tom Carroll. If Tottenham were to recruit another midfielder as they are rumored to be interested in doing, the path to the pitch becomes even more crowded.

Tottenham’s offered Onomah two contracts in less than a year though. By the terms of the most recent one in February, Onomah will be with the club until 2020. He is, as the saying goes, one for the future.

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All of which seems to suggest that Tottenham fans might not have reason to watch for Onomah warming up on the sidelines on Saturday or anytime thereafter. What’s to stop him from becoming the next Alex Pritchard? Or, really, the next Tom Carroll? Could he not just end up as cover for the remainder of his career?

The difference between those players and Onomah might just be Pochettino. Tottenham’s coach famously revels in youth. While he’s been given the credit for establishing Harry Kane, the striker was promoted to the first team by Pochettino. They were either already there or brought in straight from the transfer market.

Onomah, then, represents something of a novelty. He was the first — though by no means last — bit of talent from the Academy that Pochettino rated highly enough to give meaningful minutes to. Onomah got his first starts with the club before Alex Pritchard. Before Harry Winks. Before Cameron Carter-Vickers, or the recently departed (and highly rated) Miloš Veljković.

For Pochettino to regard Onomah that highly speaks volumes. It would be evident enough that Onomah belongs here after watching him play. He’s calm and confident on the ball. His passing skills allow him to integrate into Tottenham’s attacking midfield trio with ease. This is a player who clearly deserves to be there. If Pochettino has his druthers — and there’s no reason to think he won’t — Onomah will get even more minutes in the coming campaign.

There exists a template for Onomah’s coming season. Last year at about this time there was another 19-year-old midfielder training with the first team. Like Onomah, the path to the starting XI at first seemed long and crowded. He might have been highly rated but that’s not a guarantee for anything. Fans might clamor for him to get more of a look, but it seemed unlikely that would happen in August.

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It started slowly. Some substitute appearances. A fine but mildly fortunate goal. And then thing broke his way, so to speak. Injuries and a congested September fixture list meant that Pochettino had to dig deeper. Tottenham’s coach gave Dele Alli his first start at the club on September 13th, and the rest is history.

Is it fair to compare Onomah to Alli? Probably not. But if Pochettino can have such faith in Alli, it only seems natural to assume that Onomah will be afforded the same. From there, anything feels possible.