Tottenham: Mikey Moore hype train builds steam to hint at big role this season

The Mikey Moore hype train picked up steam as the teenager produced an eye-catching performance on his full Tottenham debut against Ferencvaros.

There has not been a teenager at Spurs as highly rated as the 17-year-old since Marcus Edwards, the great hope under Mauricio Pochettino, but the ‘mini Messi’ never started a game for the club, let alone produce a display as confident as Moore’s in Budapest.

Moore became the youngster player to start for an English club in the Europa League in 15 years and was involved in the build-up to both Spurs goals, smart finishes in each half from Pape Sarr and substitute Brennan Johnson.

He also created a glorious chance for Timo Werner, who missed another one-on-one after trying and failing to round the keeper from Moore’s pass.

Mikey Moore looked assured on his first start (REUTERS)

Ferencvaros, the serial Hungarian champions, are experienced at this level and have not lost to an English club in Europe since Don Revie’s Leeds, but Moore did not look a bit out of place in a full game on the right of Spurs’ front three.

His quality as a dribbler and his surprising strength were particularly striking and he was always looking to take on his man and draw contact where possible, or get his head up and pick a pass.

There were a couple of moments where he might have been cannier, including at 1-0 when he lost the ball trying to beat a man, leading to a Matheus Saldanha shot which was brilliantly turned around the post by Guglielmo Vicario.

Postecoglou will now have confidence that Moore has a major role to play this season

Moore’s performance, though, should give Spurs head coach Ange Postecoglou confidence that he has a major role to play this season and the teenager is in contention for more minutes from the bench against Brighton this weekend, particularly if Spurs captain Heung-min Son remains sidelined.

Moore was one of four teenagers who started the 2-1 win in Hungary, which made it two wins from two in the Europa League for Spurs but ended nervily after Barnabas Varga halved the deficit in the 90th-minute.

Another Spurs academy graduate, Will Lankshear, made his debut up front and went close to a goal in the second half, while Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall started again.

Will Lankshear twice came close to scoring (Getty Images)

Gray played 45 minutes each at centre-half and left-back, underlining his versatility and helping to ease Postecoglou’s selection concerns at the back.

Spurs supporters have tended to be frustrated by their managers rotating in the cup competitions but few will complain about Postecoglou’s raft of changes before Sunday’s game at the Amex Stadium.

The revamped Europa League, where teams must navigate eight games in the initial ‘league phase’, feels perfect for blooding Spurs’ array of talented youngsters.

And, on this showing, Moore might well be the most exciting of the lot.