Departed Spurs defender reveals what Mourinho promised him before he left

Tottenham Hotspur lost one of their most promising academy prospects earlier in the year when Luis Binks decided to leave North London and join MLS outfit Montreal Impact.

The defender, who was considered by many within the club to be the next big prospect to break into the first team set-up (Daily Mail), has now opened up on his decision to leave the club and admitted that it was a ‘no-brainer’.

He claimed that playing for the club’s Under-23 side was not doing enough for his development and that he was inspired by Jadon Sancho’s success at Borussia Dortmund.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, the 18-year-old said: “My debut here there (at Montreal) were 30,000 fans. Last year, for the Under 23s, you’d be away to Derby on a Thursday night in front of 50 people.

“The crowd, the occasion, it motivates you, you want more of it. You can still learn playing Under 23s, but not as much as this.

“When Jadon Sancho went to Dortmund and did so well, it really inspired me. So I thought, ‘Yeah, why not?’. It felt like a no-brainer.”

The Mail reported back in February that Jose Mourinho tried his best to persuade the young centre half to stay at Tottenham and Binks confirmed that the head coach did intervene when he made his intention to leave clear with a promise of being named in the club’s pre-season tour ahead of te next campaign.

However, the youngster insisted that he needed to move in order to play regularly.

He added: “I told the academy staff I was leaving and they said, ‘We’ll get Mourinho here’. He said how much he liked me, that I would be going on pre-season and, if I did well, I could play a few games next year.

“That made the decision even tougher, but it also reassured me that, if I’m good enough, I will get to the top.

“I didn’t want to take the risk of waiting for something that might never come. You then get to 21 and you still haven’t played.

“I play for England with Mason Greenwood at Man United and it’s brilliant to see him getting on and doing so well. But he’s a forward, it’s different for a centre-half, they don’t bring you on for the last 15 minutes, do they?

“So I needed to push myself, I couldn’t sit around in the 23s, that just wasn’t for me.”

Spurs Web Opinion

We have lost an alarming number of talented youngsters in recent years which indicates that there is a problem with regards to progression into the first-team. However, other big clubs are also facing similar issues as young players are now keener to push for a move abroad if they aren’t playing regularly by their late teens.

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