Tottenham Hotspur had high hopes for Reo Griffiths – but he is now back in English football after a frustrating time at Lyon.
Griffiths, 21, was coming up through the Tottenham ranks and began to attract major attention for his goalscoring exploits.
In 44 games for Tottenham’s Under-18’s, Griffiths smashed 41 goals and 12 assists as well as scoring three times in nine Under-19 games.
Tottenham were desperate to keep hold of Griffiths in 2018, but he rejected a three-year deal in favour of joining Lyon.
Barcelona, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain also wanted Griffiths. Four years ago, it looked like Griffiths was on a path to stardom.
Tottenham fans were absolutely gutted when Griffiths left, believing the club had lost a major talent.
That move to Lyon didn’t quite work out though. Despite scoring 13 times in 34 Lyon B team games, Griffiths never made the step up to the first team.
Now, Griffiths has returned to England in very low-key fashion, completing a move to League One strugglers Doncaster Rovers.
Griffiths has signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with Rovers, who sit bottom of the League One table.
11 points adrift of safety, it looks like Griffiths and Doncaster will be playing League Two football next season.
This is a far cry from the Barcelona and Real Madrid links, but sometimes you have to take that step back to take two steps forward in the future.
Griffiths can finally play regular senior football at Doncaster, hopefully playing a key role under Gary McSheffrey.
There is still so much time for Griffiths to get back on track and justify that early hype at Tottenham, but his exit may be a cautionary tale for others youngsters at Spurs.
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