Jamie Bowden recalled from Oldham loan, will head to higher division

For years under Mauricio Pochettino young Tottenham Hotspur players did not head out on loan unless the manager decided that you didn’t have much of a future at the club. That’s no longer the case. Now, the new normal is not only to send youngsters out on loan for experience, but to bring them home halfway through the season if they’re outperforming expectations.

Today, Tottenham announced that for the second time in as many weeks they are bringing one of their loan army back home. Jamie Bowden, a 20-year old technical central midfielder, is being recalled from his season long loan at League Two Oldham Athletic.

Bowden had a pretty great loan, starting 18 of Oldham’s 21 matches in the first half of the season and playing almost exclusively in central midfield. He scored one goal and had five assists in just over 1600 minutes of action, and looked to be more than a solid contributor for an Oldham side that unfortunately is bottom of the table. According to Oldham’s release on Bowden’s recall, they expect that Spurs will more or less immediately send him back out on loan, probably up a division.

This is the second time Spurs have done this already this January — Kion Etete was recalled from his loan at L2 Northampton Town only to be sent right back out to Cheltenham in League One. I expect something similar will happen to Jamie.

I still have no idea if Bowden is going to ever crack the first team at Tottenham. But we’ve said this often — having a conveyor belt of talent from the academy that can be sold for a profit, even if they don’t all end up in the starting 11, is unquestionably a good thing and creates a wonderful reputation for Spurs’ development programs. Bowden looks to be a player that could end up at minimum at a Championship level, and who knows — maybe he’s the next hot thing to come out of Spurs’ U23s. Regardless, this is a good move for him, and for Spurs.