‘A very good player’ – Even opposition manager praises Spurs 18-year-old

Peterborough United boss Darren Ferguson has singled out Tottenham Hotspur youngster Jamie Donley for praise after Tuesday night’s EFL Cup clash. 

Spurs’ Under-21s fell to their first defeat of the campaign at the ABAX Stadium as The Posh progressed to the next round of the EFL Cup at the Lilywhites’ expense.

The evening actually started in perfect fashion for the away side as they played some nice football and deservedly took the lead through Alejo Veliz, who got his first goal in a Tottenham shirt, meeting Donley’s perfect cross.

It was Donley’s eighth assist of the season to go with the six goals that he has also scored so far across competitions (Transfermarkt).

However, Peterborough quickly found an equaliser through Emmanuel Fernandes and then went on to seal a 3-1 win with second-half goals from Ricky-Jade Jones and Kwame Poku.

Jamie Donley is impressing everyone in the U21s

Ferguson admitted after the game that his side struggled to cope with Donley’s movement and quality at times.

The 51-year-old told Posh Plus after his side’s win: “The first 30 minutes we didn’t have any intensity to what we were doing and then all of a sudden we started playing like I wanted them to in the last 15 minutes of the first half.

“But they are a very difficult team to play against, in terms of how they play. They are very composed and try and get you out of your shape and they have some really talented boys.

“I felt second half, Kwame [Poku] has made a big difference in terms of the quality that he has got. But we got a bit lucky with some things, we gave away possession too much when they pressed us.

“We allowed them to press us too much. There were some good bits and bits we need to work on. The boy [Donley] has ran off us [twice] for the goal, the 63. He is a very good player. He has ran off the midfield, cross, free header.

“So it doesn’t matter who you play against, what formation you play, these things can happen in football and they did. They were causing us problems, there is no question, but the last 15 minutes from the moment we scored, we had more intensity and we should have gone in ahead at half-time.”

Spurs Web Opinion

At the moment, it seems like things are too easy for Donley at this level, with the attacker showing every sign that he is ready for senior football. I fully expect Tottenham to loan the 18-year-old to an EFL club in January.