Latest Tottenham Hotspur player exit, splitting fan opinions
By Aaron Coe
Several outlets related to Tottenham Hotspur are reporting that Spurs are selling academy sensation Dilan Markanday, splitting a divided fanbase further.
When Tottenham Hotspur was once desperate for attacking help, they went to an often loaned youngster to fit the bill. The rest of the story of Harry Kane we know very well as Spurs talisman has scored many a goal for the club. Unfortunately, for those hoping for a similar story for promising young attacker Dilan Markanday that will not be the case.
Reports are being published that the Tottenham U23 player will be sold to Blackburn for an initial fee of £500,000. Depending on where you look, this was either a decision being back by faith or more proof that Spurs are not a serious football club.
Is it the right move for Markanday, Tottenham?
The reality is even with all the injuries piling up at Tottenham with the forwards, Markanday was not even named to the bench for the Morecambe match. Possibly, this was because he was already on the way out and possibly this is because Coach Antonio Conte did not think he was ready.
Either way, it seems the next step for Markanday is a move to try and get the first-team playing time he, like so many young footballers, needs to develop.
Markanday has been excellent for Spurs U23 this season with 5 assists and a dozen goals in just 14 matches. Of course, there is a big jump between U23 and the Championship, let alone the Premier League, so maybe Markanday just was not ready.
Still, only 20-years-old Markandy needs minutes to develop, and by leaving he is likely to find them, as he was not finding them at Tottenham. As such this is likely the right move for Markanday and even Tottenham, given he was seemingly not signing a new contract.
The context around this is that #Tottenham have wanted Markanday to sign a new contract and go out on loan, but he wants a permanent part of a senior first team and he's good enough. A string of Championship clubs offering him the chance, including #Blackburn.
— Lyall Thomas (@SkySportsLyall) January 14, 2022
Some fans are finding a middle ground for Markanday and are wishing him well.
The outrage over Markanday is a little bit forced imo
— Alex (@xAlexTHFC) January 14, 2022
He’s 20, not 16, he’s desperate to be a proper part of a senior club and probably worries about just being constantly loaned out and his career just fading. He’s the one who is rejecting contracts.
Wish him best of luck 🤍
Losing a young player is always a danger
The other side of the coin on hearing that Markanday is going to leave is the wonder about what is up with our academy and squad. Jack Clarke has been part of the squad for almost three seasons and is no closer to the first team than Markanday and seemingly showing less promise, yet Clarke is still at N17.
Likewise, other seemingly promising youngsters of the past make this move seem all too familiar, with Marcus Edwards and Dennis Cirkin being two promising youth players who never got a chance with Spurs’ first team. It is moves like these that leave some fans scratching their heads.
Elliot Thorpe.
— ᑕOᗪY ᗰᗩᑕ (@CoMacDo) January 14, 2022
Dennis Cirkin.
Now Dilan Markanday.
So glad we built the training ground just to let some of our top talents walk away from the club. I get you won't hang on to all of them, but there seems to be a lot of youth looking to ply their trade elsewhere lately.
At this point, while Edwards has popped on a few occasions he has not been the next coming and we have heard little about Cirkin, so it is far too early to criticize this decision.
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Is this the right move? I do not know, as I’m not an academy expert. However, as a fan, we need to have a little faith that Fabio Paratici and Conte know what they are doing and if Markanday was going to have a future in the near term at Tottenham a different path would have been found.