J’Neil Bennett returning early from Crew Alexandria loan due to injury

By all accounts, J’Neil Bennett was having a pretty decent loan in League One with Crew Alexandria this season, but that loan has come to a premature ending. Spurs youth-watcher account @Lilywhite_Rose is reporting today that Bennett has cut short his loan and returned to Tottenham after picking up an ankle injury that will keep him out until February.

It’s a bummer. This looked like a really good loan opportunity for the 19-year old Bennett in his first loan. In his 11 appearances with Crew Alexandria, J’Neil made 8 starts, scoring two goals, mostly as an advanced forward or a left sided inside forward. He certainly didn’t look out of place in a League One side, and at age 19 in your first loan you really can’t ask for too much more than that.

Unfortunately, if Bennett is rehabbing until February it also likely means he won’t go back out on loan this spring, which was almost certainly the plan. That’s another bummer, though he’ll likely slot right back into the PL2 conversation. And who knows, this might give Antonio Conte a chance to evaluate his potential up close.