Barnet manager Dean Brennan has spoken in glowing terms of on-loan Tottenham goalkeeper Josh Keeley after his debut for the club on Saturday.
Keeley joined Spurs’ academy from St Patrick’s Athletic 18 months ago and while the youngster has not made a senior appearance for the Lilywhites, he has impressed at the youth level since arriving at Hotspur Way.
The goalkeeper had a particularly impressive first-half of the season for Under-21s and Tottenham made a decision to send him to Barnet so that the teenager could get some first-team experience under his belt.
The 20-year-old did not have the best of starts to his loan spell at National League side, who fell to a 3-2 loss to Altrincham on Saturday.
Josh Keeley is impressing at Barnet despite defeat
Even though the Republic of Ireland Under-21 international conceded three, Brennan was quite pleased with what he saw from the young goalkeeper on his debut.
The Barnet manager told the club’s Youtube channel following his side’s loss: “I actually thought Josh did really well, I’ll be honest I thought he swept really well and his distribution was excellent. He made some good saves when he had to.”
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Keeley is not expected to be the only Spurs Under-21s star to head out on loan, with Football.London’s Alasdair Gold revealing on Sunday that Jude Soonsup-Bell, Will Lankshear and Yago Santiago are also expected to make temporary moves this window.
Spurs Web Opinion
Goalkeepers need a taste of competitive senior football even more than outfield players do, given that the main battle with playing in between the sticks is a mental one – being switched on and dealing with the pressure of knowing that there is no room for mistakes. This loan spell at Barnet would certainly do Keeley’s development a world of good.
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