Tottenham have a big lesson to learn from Alejo Veliz as their next teenage star arrives - Opinion

The January transfer window looks like it’s going to be the end of the road for Alejo Veliz at Tottenham, which is a real shame.

When he first signed for Spurs back in 2023, there was a great deal of hype around Alejo Veliz. Of course, he was never expected to dive straight into first-team action, but many of us hoped the young striker could be a top prospect in years to come.

Sadly, we’ve never seen what he can do in England. Bit-part appearances here and there under Ange Postecoglou showed some promise before a huge injury derailed his progress.

Mediocre loan spells have done nothing to improve the Argentinian’s chances of breaking through at Tottenham and it now looks like Veliz will leave for good in the near future.

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Alejo Veliz’s time at Tottenham was a waste

It’s thought Veliz will join Bahia for around £8.7m. That’s not a bad fee for Spurs, to be fair, but the Brazilian outfit will be pretty happy to get a talented young striker like Veliz, too.

He will depart North London with a total of 45 minutes across eight first-team appearances at Spurs, and the one goal to his name.

Regardless of what you think about the player, there’s simply no way that he has been given sufficient opportunities to prove himself in the English game.

The thing is, how many times have we seen this now at Spurs? The club signs a promising young player, he barely features for the men’s team, gets loaned out and then eventually moves on. Veliz will join a long line of similar stories: Jude Soonsup-Bell, Troy Parrott, Jack Clarke, Bryan Gil.

Will Lankshear could be next to leave, too. I’m not saying that any of those players would necessarily have been a huge success at Spurs or that leaving was a genuine mistake, but the fact that they’re not even tested just seems foolish to me.

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Spurs must ensure Mason Melia doesn’t suffer the same fate

Thankfully, Spurs have another diamond in the rough waiting to step up and show what he can do: Mason Melia.

The young Irish prodigy is touted as the next Robbie Keane, but right now we’re all asking, where is Mason Melia?

No one is expecting the 18-year-old to be the first name on the teamsheet at Spurs, but what no fan wants is for the youngster to be left in the shadows, loaned out, and to grow frustrated.

This is a club that is supposedly so keen to give young talent a go. But, when was the last time Spurs genuinely pushed forward their brightest young players? Even the likes of Jamie Donley, Alfie Devine, and Mikey Moore have been shipped out on loan. It’s time for this pattern to stop.