DONE DEAL: Tottenham confirm signing of 17-year old Lankshear from Sheffield

We reported on this story a couple of days ago, but now it’s OFFICIALLY official — Tottenham Hotspur have completed the purchase of 17-year old striker Will Lankshear from Sheffield United. The announcement was made on Tottenham’s and Sheffield’s social media accounts.

So this is slightly unusual from Tottenham. Generally speaking the club doesn’t often announce signings of youth academy players on its social accounts, possibly to spare the kids from undue scrutiny. Perhaps this exception is made because of the fee involved — £2m isn’t a lot in the grand scheme of things but it’s a not-insignificant amount for a 17-year old who won’t be featuring for the first team anytime soon.

As I wrote before I really can’t tell you anything about Lankshear, except that he was released by Arsenal a year ago and has been impressing for Sheffield. He’s also, apparently, a life-long Spurs fan, so he’s now my favorite kid in the academy.

The Yorkshire Examiner notes that Lankshear has a very good scoring record, netting a remarkable 38 goals in 48 appearances in Sheffield’s youth setup last season. He’s getting a step up in competition by moving to Spurs, but it also seems like Tottenham may have just signed a really, really talented kid with a high ceiling, and one that was released by Arsenal which is just the cherry on top of the cake.

Paul Heckingbottom praised not only Lankshear, but Spurs for capitalizing on Lankshear’s potential.

“It’s a good deal for lots of reasons. In terms of him as a player we really like him. We think he has a good gift to score goals and credit to [academy recruitment head] Steve Holmes, Jack Lester and all the academy staff last year for getting that player in.

“He was only let go from Arsenal 12 months ago so for us to get a deal potentially up and above £2.5m is fantastic business for a 17-year-old lad who could leave us next summer. Once you get certain clubs come in, whether it’s right or wrong, they made contact and the player and the dad wanting to leave it makes things difficult.

“He is our player and we had to make sure the deal was right. He’s a scholar and there is a professional contract there for him but like I say he doesn’t have to sign it. You look at the teams who were in, Brentford, Spurs, I have said before we are never going to offer the most money. No player is coming for money the pathway is what we can offer.

“We wish him well, we love the kid. Everyone deserves a big pat on the back for getting him here.”

Sounds like the same can be said for Tottenham Hotspur. I look forward to following Lankshear’s career going forward.