Antonio Conte and his coaching staff will have the opportunity to take a close look at Charlie Sayers over the next week on the club's pre-season tour of South Korea. Only sealing a move to Tottenham in December from National League side Southend United, the 18-year-old was drafted into the Spurs tour squad at the weekend as a late replacement for Joe Rodon, who misses out through illness.
It is nothing new for the club's academy players to get a chance on the summer tour, with Japhet Tanganga and Troy Parrott in a similar boat to Sayers when they travelled to the Far East in 2019 when Mauricio Pochettino was in charge. Catching the eye in the club's friendlies, both went on to make their senior debut for the Lilywhites a few months later in the 2019/20 campaign.
Firstly taking on Team K League on Wednesday before finishing their time in Korea with a clash against La Liga side Sevilla, 28 players are part of the Tottenham travelling party and all will be hoping to get some minutes in the tank. Competing with Cristian Romero, Eric Dier, Ben Davies, Davinson Sanchez, Malachi Fagan-Walcott and Tanganga for a place in the backline, Sayers will have his fingers crossed that an opportunity comes his way so he can get his first experience of playing alongside Tottenham's first-team stars.
READ MORE: Tottenham's first day in Korea: Unlucky Joe Rodon, Clement Lenglet situation, training and Son
Here's all you need to know about the talented defender's career so far and his journey to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Representing Billericay Town and Bowers & Pitsea as a youngster, Sayers signed a permanent deal with Southend United after wowing while on trial and made an instant impact during pre-season 12 months ago. His performances were so impressive that manager Phil Brown claimed that the defender was already in contention to be their first-choice left-back.
“I’ve been more than impressed by Charlie and he’s pushing Nathan Ralph and Tom Clifford for being first choice left-back already,” said Brown, as reported by The Echo. “He’s had a steep learning curve coming from non-league but he’s done well.
"He's gone from the 18s to the 23s to the first team but it shows where we are that I couldn't do the defensive work I wanted to yesterday because he was at college!"
On the bench in two of their first seven National League games as Southend got off to a nightmare start, Sayers was given his chance in the team at left-back by Brown in a 2-0 defeat against Solihull Moors. Starting again in the following match as they beat Eastleigh 1-0, the Southend boss waxed lyrical about the defender after two strong performances.
“I think Charlie Sayers has been outstanding and you have to say he has a career ahead of him, there’s no doubt about it,” said Brown, as reported by The Echo.
“He’s got two games under his belt now but is he going to make mistakes as a 17-year-old boy? Absolutely. But on Tuesday he had a team on Tuesday that was protecting him.”
Brown was dismissed a few days later following a heavy defeat against Chesterfield but Sayers still featured in the side, coming off the bench twice either side of a start against Boreham Wood. His form had quite clearly alerted Tottenham and it wasn't long before he joined the club's academy in December for an undisclosed fee.
"For a young lad to get the opportunity to go to Tottenham, you can’t stand in his way," Southend head coach Kevin Maher told the club's official website. "He broke into the team this season and to play at 17 in a really tough league shows a lot of character. He’s got a mature head on him for his young age and hopefully, he can take that forward.
"Tottenham is a brilliant football club and they’ve got some really good people there that I know well. He’ll be looked after and coached very well and it’s up to him now to take the opportunity. He’s a great lad and we wish him all the very best and hope to see him go on and have a great career."
Captaining the U18s in his first Tottenham appearance against Crystal Palace at the start of December, Sayers, who can operate at centre-back or left-back, played three games in the team's FA Youth Cup campaign, scoring in a 6-1 win over West Brom in the fourth round a week after netting in an U18s away win over Southampton. A regular for the U18s as he started ten times, Sayers also played the full 90 minutes in two U23 games against Leeds United and Liverpool.
Making rapid progress in his short time at Tottenham, the 18-year-old was called up to first-team training at Hotspur Way ahead of the crucial North London Derby showdown against Arsenal in May. Four youngsters were named on the bench for the 3-0 win as Conte had limited first-team players to work with but unfortunately, Sayers wasn't one of them.
It does appear that a lot more opportunities will come his way in the future, though, providing that he continues to impress and his development goes from strength to strength. Now on the club's pre-season tour of Korea, Spurs supporters may be about to get their first glimpse of Sayers in the first team over the next week.
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