De Zerbi Has Just Made Major Williams-Barnett Decision

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Spurs youngster is clearly in De Zerbi's plans for the rest of the season

Tottenham supporters have been clamouring to see young talent Luca Williams-Barnett be given an opportunity to showcase his talents in the first team for some time now.

And they may not have to wait too much longer for the teenager to get an extended run in the first team squad.

The wonderkid, who turned 18 on Thursday, is one of the hottest talents to come off the Spurs academy conveyor belt, with many hoping he goes on to emulate Harry Kane in the Lilywhite shirt.

Williams-Barnett averages more than one goal contribution in every game he has played at youth level for Tottenham with 24 goals and 13 assists in 32 appearances for the U18s and eight goals and seven assists in 12 games for the club's U21s. He has seven goals and two assists in six UEFA Youth League matches.

He has yet to make his first team debut in the Premier League , but has had minutes in the Carabao Cup under Roberto De Zerbi this season and Thomas Frank last season.

He is the very definition of a much-hyped young talent, with Archie Gray describing him as a "gem", while De Zerbi himself has called him a "big talent".

Former U18s coach Stuart Lewis said of the youngster: "I spoke in the week about Tottenham players and having that creativity and that go-for-it mindset. We've loved [David] Ginola over the years, we've loved [Dimitar] Berbatov, those players."

> Luca's still got a lot of work to do. He's an Under-16 player but throughout the season there's been some unbelievable moments.

Williams-Barnett scored his first international goal this week, netting for England U19s in a 2-1 friendly win over Norway. His rise to first team regular at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium cannot be too far off now and De Zerbi has dropped a massive hint that the 18-year-old is going to be part of his plans for the rest of this season.

The 2026/27 season may already be five gameweeks old, but Tottenham have only just released their full squad picture for the campaign. And there were two surprises when looking at it. The first was that Richarlison was pictured in it, looking particularly solemn after being left out of the 25-man Premier League squad that De Zerbi named after the summer transfer window closed.

The other surprise was to see Williams-Barnett in the squad photo.

Twenty-nine players were in the squad picture and all of the others, bar Richarlison, can be deemed regulars in De Zerbi's thinking for the rest of the 2026/27 season.

That Williams-Barnett was asked to be in the picture shows just how highly he is regarded at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and could point to some first team chances coming his way in the coming weeks.

Spurs could be missing one of their regular starters when they take on Manchester United in the next round of Premier League fixtures

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