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It’s not entirely clear quite yet, but it looks as though Tottenham Hotspur are losing one of their promising youth defenders. Word from the Montreal sports media is that 18-year old Luis Binks, a Tottenham U23 regular and one of the more promising academy defenders, is heading to MLS to play for the Montreal Impact.
Selon mes infos, Luis Binks est en passe de rejoindre #IMFC.
— Vincent Destouches (@100_Soccer) February 5, 2020
Défenseur central de 18 ans, Binks évoluait jusqu’ici avec les U23 de Tottenham @SpursOfficial. Il est international U19 avec l’Angleterre.
Grand, gaucher, grande qualité de passe, spécialiste des longues diagonales.
This is a move that, if you listened in the right places, you could hear murmurs about for a few weeks now. Spurs academy watchers had noted that Binks appeared to be leaving after seeing social media posts from other academy players that hinted at a Binks “farewell” so it’s not entirely unsurprising. It’s not clear what the nature of the move is, but it looks like it’s probably a permanent transfer.
Binks is highly regarded as a defender in Spurs academy. Some had predicted that he’d be the next Tottenham academy defender to get a shot at the first team in a couple of years. He’s been a regular in the back line for both the U23s, U18s, and UEFA Youth League this season.
A move to Montreal isn’t the worst idea in the world — the club is managed by Thierry Henry and there’s probably a greater chance that he’ll start getting minutes in MLS compared to what he would if stayed at Spurs (assuming he didn’t go out on loan). There’s also talk that Binks could eventually end up in Serie A with Bologna, since Montreal and Bologna share the same owner.
I don’t know if we’ll get an official announcement or not — Spurs are often hesitant to publicly talk about moves and contracts for players under 20 (that aren’t outgoing loans). Good luck to Luis. It’d be nice if we could’ve held on to him since it sure seems like he’s a player who could develop into something special, but who knows.