Harvey White has revealed that Tottenham Hotspur have made it clear to him that it is up to him to fight for his place at Portsmouth and that he is not guaranteed game time.
White is one of the most highly-rated youngsters at Spurs as evidenced by Jose Mourinho’s willingness to give him first-team minutes in the FA Cup and Europa League this season.
The teenager, who has been one of the most consistent performers for Tottenham’s Under-23s this season, has been handed an opportunity to prove himself in League One after Spurs confirmed last week that he has made a temporary move to Fratton Park until the end of the season.
The central midfielder has made two substitute appearances off the bench for Kenny Jackett’s side since moving to the south coast, and some Pompey fans were impressed by what they saw from him against Hull City on Saturday.
However, White has insisted that his parent club will not put pressure on Portsmouth to hand him game time.
The midfielder told the League One club’s official website: “(Andy) Cannon and (Tom) Naylor are great players. They’ve been very welcoming and I can learn off them.
“I can learn more by playing with them because I’m still young.
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“Spurs believe in me. They wanted me to come here because they wanted me to fight for my place.
“At the end of the day, it’s football and you’ve got to fight for your place. You’ve got to show why you should be in the team.
“It’s up to me to make sure I’m playing. I give 100 per cent in training every day so it’s up to me to show I should be starting.
“The club won’t call up and say that (why isn’t he playing). George (Byers) has arrived now (on loan from Swansea) and it’s healthy competition. Hopefully, we can learn off each other.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Very few clubs will be willing to take players on loan if the parent club demands that the player in question gets a certain number of games. That is why clubs have to be very careful about where they send their players on loan as the last thing they would want is for them to be stuck on the bench like Jack Clarke was at Leeds and QPR last season. However, going by the start White has made to his loan spell, I expect him to be a regular starter for Portsmouth before too long.
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