Journalist George Sessions has provided an update on the fitness of Luca Williams-Barnett as Tottenham look to find a solution to make up for the loss of Xavi Simons’ creativity.
Xavi had produced his best performance in a Tottenham shirt against Brighton, and the attacking midfielder looked set to play a key role in the Lilywhites’ quest to stay up.
However, the 22-year-old Spurs star has become the latest to pick up a serious injury, which is expected to sideline him for the rest of the calender year.
That has made Roberto De Zerbi’s task much harder, with the Lilywhites having struggled for creativity since the start of the season.
Luca Williams-Barnett remains sidelined for Tottenham
Tottenham do have an exciting attacking midfielder in their academy ranks, with Luca Williams-Barnett having dominated at the youth level for the club this season.
However, PA Sport’s George Sessions has now revealed De Zerbi will not be able to turn to Williams-Barnett as the 17-year-old also remains sidelined with an injury.
Sessions suggested that the Spurs boss may be forced to turn to academy winger Tynan Thompson, who has scored seven goals in seven UEFA Youth League games this season.
The 18-year-old, who has been part of Tottenham’s matchday squad already this season, recently fired Spurs through to the Premier League 2 play-offs with goals against Leicester and Blackburn.
De Zerbi may be tempted to put his rich form to good use by handing him a debut.
Why Roberto De Zerbi may be hesitant to turn to Tynan Thompson
The Spurs players are under immense pressure as they remain two points adrift of safety with four games to go.
This is certainly not the ideal environment for a young player to make his debut in, and De Zerbi will have doubts over whether Thompson could cope with the expectations.
The Italian could thus decide to turn to Mathys Tel or potentially even Lucas Bergvall, who has also played off the left on occasions this season.