While the Europa League may not be the European competition Tottenham want to be competing in, what it does and has allowed for is some of the club’s brightest young prospects to be given their first chance in the senior side.
And one youngster who Jose Mourinho appears to have high hopes for, is 16-year-old Dane Scarlett. The forward doesn’t turn 17 until later this month, but has already delivered a glimpse of his exciting future in north London, coming on and providing the assist for Carlos Vinicius’ second-goal of the night against Wolfsberger back in late February.
Speaking after his cameo in that Europa League victory, Mourinho said: “He is a diamond, a kid with incredible potential. He has worked many times with the first team and that gives him a different personality. He is still 16, 17 soon (in March) and I believe next season he will be a first-team squad player because he has a lot of talent.
Should Scarlett be given a chance in the Premier League?
Yes!
No!
“He is going to be a fantastic player and I hope everything around him goes well. He is a striker, a number nine, I have been playing him from the sides similar to Marcus Rashford and he is very clever. Next season he has to be a first-team player. Immense talent. Very good physical development. He’s very good, he’s going to be very good.”
With Vinicius only at Spurs on a season-long loan deal, there’s a real opportunity for the likes of Scarlett and perhaps some of the club’s other exciting young attackers to really stake their claim before the end of the season.
It’s on Mourinho to really put his faith in those players and give them the platform to shine, and while the Portuguese man will be reluctant to throw them into the deep end for crunch knockout games or clashes against the Premier League’s big six, there’s surely plenty of room for him to include Scarlett to in his match-day squad and give him run-outs whenever Spurs are comfortable.
While Troy Parrott used to be the Spurs starlet who was really the hot topic of conversation, it looks like the 5 foot 9 Scarlett’s the one who’s overtaken everyone else to have a real shot at making the first-team sooner rather than later.
Meanwhile, Spurs played a blinder by selling this man for £17m…