Luca Williams-Barnett did play in the League Cup this season for Tottenham Hotspur, but up until Matchday 9 this weekend, the youth star had not logged a single Premier League minute for the Lilywhites. And officially, he only got two minutes for Spurs as his cup of coffee against rivals Crystal Palace in relief of a stellar Mathys Tel, but he only needed a handful of minutes on the pitch to make a serious impact for his team.
LWB had a couple of dangerous moments on the ball, none better than a scamper on the left side into the area that led to a deadly low cross for right winger Mohammed Kudus. And after assisting with a brilliant corner to Archie Gray in the first stanza of the match, the Ghanaian star could not find the same technical quality, flubbing an open net in the six yard box so badly that he might as well have been trying to clear it off the line to help save Brennan Johnson's former club further humiliation.
But the dribble itself from Williams-Barnett was a sight to behold. It was as if the innate stardom of the young man himself had taken over, and the ball was tethered to his feet as it was throughout the preseason. Roberto De Zerbi has always acknowledged the player's quality but held off on this moment until now.
Luca Williams-Barnett is ready for more
As with Mateus Fernandes, if De Zerbi had doubts about how ready Luca Williams-Barnett is to get minutes for Tottenham Hotspur, the 18 year old sensation made it clear in that moment, which was the best play of the entire game - and a game that Tottenham Hotspur completely dominated, of course - that he is ready to offer the Lilywhites an entirely different element immediately.
Tottenham will be getting James Maddison back from injury soon, and Dejan Kulusevski is already a factor off the bench. So LWB isn't as needed as he was, say, a month ago, when Tottenham could not buy themselves a Premier League victory.
But even if he is not needed, Wililams-Barnett is too talented to deny. He is special. And on a week when Tottenham were reminded of the power of their club and homegrown talent in the academy by Harry Kane winning the Ballon d'Or, Roberto De Zerbi has one more reason to take notice of Williams-Barnett's quality and give him another, more prolonged chance at destroying some poor Premier League defense.
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