Tottenham U23 forward Kazaiah Sterling heading to Southend United on loan

The Premier League transfer window may be closed, but the EFL window remains open for another week until October 16. That means that deals with clubs in the lower divisions can still take place. Tottenham Hotspur is taking advantage of that, especially for loans of its younger players and academy graduates, and today announced that 21-year old striker Kazaiah Sterling is heading on loan to Southend United until January.

This is Kaz’s fourth loan. He went to Sunderland, then in League One, last January in what was at the time a very exciting loan possibility, but made only 8 appearances, scoring one goal. Last season, he spent the entire season on loan, first at League One Doncaster Rovers and later dropping down a level to Leyton Orient before football shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Southend are a League Two club, much like Orient, so this seems more like replacing the loan he didn’t get last January than a step up. The other thing you might remember about Southend is that until this season they were managed by none other than Sol Campbell, who got the club relegated to L2 in a COVID-shortened season. Maybe now that he’s gone the club has become a viable location for loans again? Spurs seem to have a good relationship with the club, as a couple of players have headed there on loan over the years.

At 21, it sure seems like League Two/League One is probably Kaz’s level, which isn’t bad by any means. I doubt we should expect Kaz to make “the leap” to something that resembles a Premier League footballer, but it certainly doesn’t mean he can’t have a perfectly fine professional career. My guess is that he may get permanently sold to an EFL club, either in January or this coming summer.

Good luck, Kaz!