Tottenham’s under-18’s stormed to a 5-3 win against Brighton in the U-18 Premier League and Luca Williams-Barnett channelled his inner Dele Alli as he netted another Spurs hattrick.
Tottenham’s academy prides itself on attacking talent
The jump from academy football to the first team cannot be underestimated. However, Spurs seem to be trying their utmost to create a consistent pathway for attacking talent to grow in their youth teams.
Spurs developed Harry Kane into one of the world’s best strikers and more recently brought the likes of Mikey Moore and Will Lankshear through their academy ranks.
Now, 16-year-old Luca Williams-Barnett appears to be the next name emerging from Spurs’ youth system. The teen striker scored a spectacular hattrick in the U-18 Premier League against Brighton bringing his season total up to 14 goals and 8 assists in 13 appearances.
Spurs U18 star Luca Williams-Barnett does Dele Alli celebration
Photographed at Brighton, Luca Williams-Barnett was seen celebrating one of his three goals with the iconic ‘eye’ celebration Dele popularised back in 2018.
Williams-Barnett would have been 9 years old when Dele first did the celebration and could have been one of his earlier footballing memories.
Now Dele is playing for Como in the Serie A and countless Spurs fans will be hoping to see one of the stars of the Mauricio Pochettino era back to his best soon.
Lucas Williams-Barnett has very high potential at Spurs
At 16, Luca Williams-Barnett is currently at the back of a long queue of excellent strikers at Tottenham.
Dominic Solanke, Richarlison, Mathys Tel, Dane Scarlett, Will Lankshear, George Feeney and Williams-Barnett are all at different stages in their career but are united in their desire to lead the line for Spurs.
Mason Melia will additionally be joining this list in January 2026, however, age should not deter any of them in their pursuit to reach the first team. With the likes of Moore, Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall getting significant minutes this season, the only prerequisite to getting in the first team is readiness and taking their opportunity.