Harry Kane may not be leading the line for Tottenham Hotspur tonight, but another homegrown attacker will in Dane Scarlett.
Kane was named in the squad for tonight’s Europa Conference League play-off clash with Pacos de Ferreira, but hasn’t even travelled to Portugal as questions continue over his future.
Nuno Espirito Santo will want to rotate his side for this game, especially after such a gruelling game against Manchester City on Sunday.
That means Son Heung-min won’t be starting tonight, and with no other striker brought in this summer, Nuno is turning to Scarlett.
Scarlett made his Tottenham debut last season under Jose Mourinho, but has yet to make a first competitive start for the club.
Scarlett hit 17 goals in 16 Under-18 Premier League games last season, as well as three goals in five outings at Premier League 2 level.
The 17-year-old is being tipped for a huge future at Tottenham, and his starting role in tonight’s game has now been confirmed.
Boss Nuno has now told Football.London that Scarlett is going to start, admitting that Tottenham have ‘big expectations’ for him after a strong pre-season, and hopes to see him emerge in the first team over the coming years.
“He’s going to start the game tomorrow,” said Nuno. “We have big, big expectations regarding Dane because he did so well in pre-season which you recall the game against Leyton Orient in which he scored and he was involved in many of the games in pre-season.”
“He’s a young talent that we want to develop and we want to make him better and want to make him grow because there’s a lot of potential there. I think it should be our idea in the club to use opportunities for young players to play. When we have talent we must believe in them and go for it,” he added.
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