Tottenham may now have their own version of Bukayo Saka coming through the academy

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Arsenal and Tottenham’s academies are both absolutely thriving at the moment with some incredible young players coming through.

Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly are both very exciting players in the Arsenal academy, while Spurs have a litany of exciting young players coming through.

Indeed, Alfie Devine, Alfie Dorrington, Mikey Moore and Will Lankshear have all been making waves in recent times in Tottenham’s youth ranks.

Of course, the flag bearer for young stars in north London in recent years has been Bukayo Saka at Arsenal, and, excitingly, Spurs may have a young player who might be about to break through in the same way Saka did.

Tottenham’s very own Bukayo Saka

Tottenham could have their own version of Bukayo Saka in the shape of Jamie Donley.

The youngster has been waiting for a first-team opportunity for a little while now, and there’s reason to believe he could get a chance in the near future, but not in a position you may expect.

Donley, much like Saka has been trained up as an attacking player, but in pre-season, he has been playing at left-back, and according to Alasdair Gold, Donley is really impressing in this role.

“Jamie Donley at left-back, that was an interesting one, having to fill in there, which would presumably – I haven’t seen any photos yet – but we’re presuming maybe Destiny Udogie’s not quite there yet in terms of fitness,” he said.

“From what I understood, apparently Jamie Donley was excellent as a left-back, which I guess we’ve spoken about this before, and using midfielders in the inverted full-back roles, they’re kind of going to take to a lot of aspects of it because the role brings them into the middle anyway.”

With Destiny Udogie struggling for fitness, Donley could genuinely be a left-back option to start the season, and this could end up being his big break.

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Jamie Donley’s big break

Of course, Donley won’t want to ultimately end up at left-back, but sometimes you just have to take the chances you get.

Let’s not forget, Saka started his Arsenal career as a left-back wearing the number 77 shirt, and now, just a few years on, he’s one of Arsenal’s most important attacking players.

Donley could perhaps have that same trajectory at Tottenham. After all, Spurs aren’t afraid of following this pathway – Gareth Bale went through the exact same thing 15 years ago now.

Saka made his big breakthrough at Arsenal as a young attacking player forced to play at left-back, and, given his role in pre-season, Donley could perhaps do the same at Tottenham.