Tottenham Hotspur have seen great success with some of their loan moves so far this season, but one highly-rated midfielder continues to struggle for game time.
The Spurs attacking midfielder showcased his talent in League One last season, with Jamie Donley being named Leyton Orient’s Player of the Year after spearheading their promotion push.
The 20-year-old is thought of very highly at Hotspur Way, and it came as no surprise when Tottenham decided to loan him to the Championship this term, with the midfielder joining Ashley Phillips at Stoke City.
His spell started on the perfect note, with Donley picking up an assist in his first outing for Stoke, but it has been downhill since for the Spurs academy graduate.
Tottenham’s Jamie Donley continues to warm the bench for Stoke City
Donley was once again an unused sub on Saturday as Stoke City fell to a 1-0 defeat away at QPR.
In his latest loan review of the Tottenham players, Football.London’s Alasdair Gold points out that the Spurs midfielder has not got any minutes in the Potters’ last four Championship outings.
This is despite the fact that Stoke have lost three of their last four games across all competitions.
Phillips is not faring much better, with the centre-back not having been involved in the club’s last three games. Gold concludes that if the pair’s situation does not change, they could both be back in Tottenham in January.
Donley will believe that he can turn around his fortunes at Stoke
It is worth remembering that Donley did not have the best of starts to his spell at Orient last season, struggling to get minutes in the first couple of months of the campaign.
However, he finished the season as the club’s most important player, dominating League One while displaying incredible consistency.
The 20-year-old will believe he can do the same at Stoke, and with the club’s results being poor of late (even though they sit second in the table), his opportunities might be around the corner.