Luis Binks might be one that slipped through Tottenham’s net.
The 18-year-old defender left Spurs in January to get his first-team career started early, joining Thierry Henry’s Montreal Impact in the MLS, where Victor Wanyama would follow a couple of months later.
While he never featured for the senior side, Binks was always highly thought of within the youth setup, illustrated by the fact he was asked to train with the big boys at the tender age of just 16.
Binks told the Daily Mail of how he made himself known to one senior pro straight away. “My first training session at Tottenham, I was only 16, there was a 50-50 and I went in with Jan Vertonghen,’ the Daily Mail quotes him as saying. ‘I went in hard – but fair, I think – and he got up and shouted at me, ‘You f***ing idiot’. Literally, 20 seconds later, the same 50-50 challenge came along… I went in full-blooded again, and he rolled his ankle. “He went mental. For six months he wouldn’t shake my hand. He’d just laugh and say, ‘You’re that kid who did me!’”
I have to say, I’m with Jan on this one. Showing no fear and trying to make an impression with one crunching tackle – fine.
Going in on the same player 20 seconds later and being proud that you caused damage – stupid.
There are other ways to catch the eye, like marking Cristiano Ronaldo out of a pre-season friendly.
