Earlier this month Tottenham Hotspur academy grad Damola Ajayi was recalled from his loan at League One side Doncaster Rovers over a lack of playing time and production. The idea was that he would be sent out to another club on loan that would be able to utilize him better. It turns out that new club is down a division. Tottenham announced on socials that Ajayi will be heading to Bromley in League Two for the second half of the season.
Ajayi was not a regular starter for Doncaster, which is currently second from the bottom in League One and in a real relegation scrap. Ajayi scored a nice goal in preseason for Doncaster and another in August in an EFL Cup win over Middlesbrough and nothing since. Most of his minutes came from the bench with three starts from 15 appearances and less than 500 total minutes of playing time. Not great!
So on the one hand it is kind of disappointing to see Ajayi heading down a league on loan, but this could be viewed as either an opportunity to establish himself in a slightly lower level of competition before hopefully establishing himself up the table next season (laudatory), or it’s a sign that maybe his level is more League Two professional player (derogatory). I don’t know which one it is, but I think we’re about to find out. Bromley are flying in League Two and are top of the table; he’s heading to a good third division team and if he can get minutes there it speaks to his ability to compete at League One level, at least, with the right team.
We all want our youth players to succeed, and the flip side of that is that as fans of Tottenham Hotspur we all (myself included) tend to want to overrate our youth prospects. Ajayi is 20 years old — a young guy — and there’s still plenty of time to improve and become a cromulent professional. I’m not sure, however, that it will be at the Premier League level. Let’s hope I’m wrong and he crushes it this spring.
