Tottenham youth defender signs first professional contract with club

Tottenham Hotspur signed a player today! News broke on Sunday that 18-year old academy defender Aaron Skinner signed his first professional contract with Spurs, after impressing the club on an extended trial prior to football shutting down.

Skinner announced the news on his personal Instagram account.

Don’t know who Aaron Skinner is? That’s okay, I really didn’t either. He only recently joined the club on a trial basis six months ago in November after impressing in the academy setup at Bury. Last season, he was an important starter on the Bury team that made it to the finals of the FA Youth Cup.

I’m not going to pretend that I’ve seen this kid play football. Internet searching and accounts of people who pay far more attention to Spurs’ youth squads than I do state that he’s a central defender who can also move up into a defensive midfield position when asked. He’s done something right, as he’s impressed the academy coaches enough to earn himself a contract. He’ll likely slot into the U18s whenever football starts up again, and he could also end up getting minutes in Ryan Mason’s U19 UEFA Youth League sides as well.

Youth development is a crap shoot. Skinner could end up being the next great defender to come out of Spurs’ academy, or he might not. Either way, it’s good to see Spurs continuing to put an emphasis on developing young players.