Spurs are very interested in Northampton Town wonderkid Caleb Chukwuemeka, who has also attracted interest from overseas with Club Brugge reportedly keen on the player earlier on this year.
Rangers and Aston Villa have also been credited with interest, but Spurs have moved ahead of them due to scout David Pleat’s admiration for the player – and the bonus for the League Two club of being given a youngster from the North London club in return.
🚨 NEW: Tottenham have opened talks to Northampton Town for 19-year-old Caleb Chukwuemeka. The club are discussing offering one of their own youngsters to Northampton as part of a swap deal. [Football Insider] pic.twitter.com/Kg18GbDouA
— The Spurs Web (@thespursweb) July 24, 2021
It is unclear at this moment who that player may be, but we have profiled three players who may be the mystery man who will be used as a sweetener to help secure Chukwuemeka.
Tobi Omole
Left-footed centre-back Tobi Omole has only been at the club for one season after joining from arch-rivals Arsenal, but at 21-years-old, time is running out for him to make a breakthrough into the first team.
https://twitter.com/_OwenTHFC/status/1418153490166296577?s=20
With no experience yet in senior football, Omole is definitely a candidate to be used in the deal if Spurs don’t see a future for him at the club, but being a defender, he will obviously not be a like-for-like replacement for the young forward.
However, Omole has featured in both pre-season games so far this Summer and didn’t look too out of place up against League Two opposition, which may have caught the eye of Northampton.
Jamie Bowden
Irish defensive midfielder Jamie Bowden hasn’t hit the heights he was expected to earlier on in his career, which is most likely down to a number of different injuries plaguing his development.
Jamie Bowden #IRLU19 with the winner for the Spurs U23's against Everton recently @Eire31808956 #COYBIG #IRLU21 pic.twitter.com/EciMvjELVl
— Rep of Ireland Player Tracker (@reptracker) March 13, 2021
With Harvey White and Alfie Devine now ahead of him in the pecking order despite both of them being younger, Bowden may be forced to look for first team football elsewhere very soon, in order to make sure he still enjoys a professional career.
The 20-year-old has represented Ireland at Under 19 level and has been apart of the U23’s squad for a number of years now and has taken on the captain’s armband a couple of times – but he is still rated highly at the club and they may just prefer to send him out on-loan now as opposed to permanently letting him go.
Jeremie Mukendi
Young forward Jeremie Mukendi finds himself behind Kion Etete, Dilan Markanday and J’Neil Bennett in the Under 23s team, despite being older then them all.
https://twitter.com/Lilywhite_Rose/status/1397930738293510152?s=20
A versatile player who can play on the right or up top, he is a very similar type of player to Chukwuemeka and he would make the most sense to be used in a swap deal.
However, once again Mukendi doesn’t have any experience in the senior game as he has not been sent out on-loan to a Football League club yet, but Spurs may be hoping that his experience in the Premier League 2 would be enough to convince Northampton to sign him up.