Last season, a number of Tottenham Hotspur’s young academy graduates and U23 stars went out and had successful loans. 20-year-old English/Moroccan right winger Yusuf Akhamrich was one of those players — he spent half the season on loan at League 2 Bristol Rovers where he scored six goals and had two assists in just over 900 minutes.
That loan to League 2 has prompted another one this season — Yusuf is heading back out but up a division, and is heading to League One Leyton Orient on a season long loan.
Akhamrich has been somewhat under the radar in terms of hype profile, but he’s considered one of the best players to come out of the academy in a while, and his loan to Bristol Rovers last season was certainly eye-opening. He has two years left on his initial professional contract, but his pathway to the first team is pretty well blocked at the moment with numerous players expected ahead of him. A loan is the right answer at this time, and Leyton Orient is a club Spurs have a good relationship with; they’ve sent a number of players there in recent years, and it is notably the club where one Harold Edward Kane, OBE, got his start.
Akhamrich is certainly a player Spurs fans will want to keep an eye on. I keep hammering on about this but youth development is rarely a straight line and there are no guarantees he’ll break into the first team, but he’s one that has a lot of promise. We’ll see how he does in the third division this season.
