Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has called up young goalkeeper Luca Gunter to first-team training.
The 18-year-old England youth international was spotted with the senior players in a video posted on the club’s official Twitter account. Tottenham are just 10 days away from the start of their Premier League campaign.
Ange Postecoglou will be making the most of every minute they have on the training ground after a disrupted pre-season tour.
A rained-off friendly against Leicester City followed by a match against Lion City Sailors in place of AS Roma wasn’t the ideal preparation.
Postecoglou also couldn’t bring his entire first-team squad with him due to injuries and two more players picked up knocks on the tour.
Tanguy Ndombele has impressed Postecoglou, but couldn’t feature in any competitive action.
He also lost Alfie Whiteman to what looked like a serious injury during one session. Postecoglou has now called up young goalkeeper Luca Gunter to training to replace Tottenham’s third-choice shot-stopper.
The 18-year-old is unlikely to feature when the season kicks off, but can only benefit from working with the senior side.
Gunter called up to Tottenham first-team training
In the video shared by Tottenham, youngster Alfie Devine is practising his heading.
He nods two shots past Gunter, who is audibly frustrated he couldn’t deny his fellow academy star. Gunter is already an England Under-18 international, making his debut against the Netherlands last season.
He featured three times in the UEFA Youth League for Spurs last year, helping the club do the double over Marseille.
Gunter was Tottenham’s Under-18s first-choice goalkeeper but did step up to the Under-21s on one occasion.
He had a tough time against a very strong Fulham side, replacing Josh Keeley who travelled on tour with the first team this summer. Gunter will hope he made a good impression in training with Tottenham’s first team and can continue to work with the senior side throughout the campaign.
The aim has to be to establish himself in the Under-21 side or go out on loan.
Gunter’s development will hinge on how many he can play in the next few years.
Working with the likes of Guglielmo Vicario, Fraser Forster and Hugo Lloris while he’s still at the club will only help him going forward.
