Rodel Richards marked his first start of the season for Tottenham Hotspur’s under-18s by scoring a brace in a staggering 9-0 win.
Tottenham may no longer have Reo Griffiths in their under-18 ranks, but they clearly still have little issue putting a performance together that embarrasses their opponents as they thrashed West Ham 9-0 on Saturday.
A Griffiths-inspired Spurs put nine past Arsenal last season. But the striker took many by surprise during the summer by deciding to swap Tottenham for Lyon, leaving the Premier League side with just a compensation fee for a player who appears to have a scary future ahead of him.
It was a huge blow losing Griffiths – with many Spurs fans urging Mauricio Pochettino to hand him a first-team chance in the latter stages of last season as he continued his sensational form – but his exit does present an opportunity for another youngster to perhaps start down the same path.
And that starlet could perhaps be Rodel Richards, who was making his first start of the season against the Hammers this weekend having been injured until recently.
Richards bagged a brace as Tottenham threatened to reach double figures against the Irons, including a lovely curling effort for his second and Spurs’ fourth.
It was an incredibly encouraging display from the versatile 18-year-old, and the Spurs coaches will be hoping that there is plenty more to come once he is back up to speed.
Richards will do remarkably well to match Griffiths’ tally from last season, but he must look at the latter’s exit as a really fantastic opportunity to make sure that everyone at Spurs quickly deems him to be the one to look for this term.
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