Shortly before the coronavirus pandemic forced the world into lockdown in December 2019, Tottenham recorded and released a video of their first-team players driving academy kids to training. Lucas Moura, still basking in the heroism of his Amsterdam miracle half a year earlier, surprised an 11-year-old boy with his presence as they took the car for a spin. Along the way, the Brazil international had some words of wisdom for the child.
"The best advice I can give for you," Lucas said, "is never give up, always give your best, every day, every time. And, for your life, never get tired to do good things for people. To be a gentleman."
Just over five years later, that kid, Luca Williams-Barnett, made his debut for the Spurs senior team. "He was very welcoming," Williams-Barnett, now 17, said of Lucas and the experience. "He wanted to get to know me when [the video] was about him, he was a very good person."
When Luca met Lucas was but the first chapter on the former's rise through the ranks, and the hope inside Hotspur Way is this fairy tale has several, fruitful passages still to be written. The attacking midfielder has made mincemeat of his age-mates and already turned the head of first-team boss Thomas Frank. "I'm well aware of Luca's talent, I like what I see," the Dane recently admitted.
So, who is Williams-Barnett, and why are Tottenham so convinced he could be their best homegrown product since Harry Kane? GOAL has the lowdown on Spurs' latest teenage prospect…
Where it all began
Williams-Barnett has the distinction of being a Spurs supporter who wasn't even alive the last time they won a domestic trophy, as he was born on October 1, 2008, some eight months after their League Cup triumph against Chelsea and only a matter of days before Juande Ramos was replaced as manager by Harry Redknapp.
He was raised in Luton and naturally caught the attention of the Hatters' scouts as a boy, though by the age of 10, he had already been whisked away to Tottenham and their base on the borders of Hertfordshire, Essex and Greater London. It didn't take Spurs too long to realise they had a gem on their hands, which was perhaps part of the reasoning why Williams-Barnett was selected to appear with Lucas on video.
Continually playing above his age group never seemed to daunt Williams-Barnett, who found a way to stand out even among more physically developed players. His flair and trickery made him an incredibly difficult talent for even the staunchest of defenders to pin down.
By the ages of 15 and 16, Williams-Barnett had been promoted into Tottenham's Under-18s setup, making seven appearances at that level during 2023-24 and first catching the eye of former head coach Ange Postecoglou. The Australian was already earmarking the midfielder for the future.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesThe big break
During the first third of Tottenham's successful 2024-25 Europa League campaign, Williams-Barnett received an important message from Postecoglou. Rather than heading to school on November 6 and 7, the Year 11 student would be part of the travelling Spurs party for their trip to Turkish giants Galatasaray. It required a series of phone calls from youth team staff and a quick trip back to his family home to pick up his passport, but Williams-Barnett managed to get on the plane with the multi-millionaires of the seniors all the same. Though the midfielder didn't get onto the pitch, he was still part of the matchday squad for the 3-2 defeat, his hopes of an unlikely debut all but dashed after scorer and fellow teenager Will Lankshear received a red card.
That was the first step into the world of men's football for Williams-Barnett, and he was clearly in Postecoglou's plans one way or another. Subsequent bench call-ups followed against Roma and Rangers in Europe, as well as Fulham in the Premier League. There was much buzz about elders Lankshear and Mikey Moore, but Williams-Barnett was the youngest of this new crop, waiting for an opportunity to show their mettle at the highest level.
Alas, Williams-Barnett didn't play a competitive minute during Postecoglou's tenure, though did still light up the U18 Premier League with a whopping 19 goals and nine assists in 20 games, primarily as a No.10 while copying idol Dele Alli's famous finger celebration. He scored a hat-trick in their 5-2 Premier League Cup triumph over Charlton Athletic, and his post-match message was one which delighted supporters: "I can't wait to be in the Premier League, scoring goals for Tottenham and making fans happy."
Of course, England's talent-spotters were hot on the tail of Williams-Barnett, who to date has made 14 appearances across all age groups for the Young Lions and scored on his U18s debut in September. That goal came shortly before the most important moment of his career to date…
Getty ImagesHow it's going
The emergence of Williams-Barnett is important to contextualise, not only for his own talent but for the club Tottenham are trying to be. Beyond the likes of Kane and Ledley King, their most prestigious academy graduates in recent years have been Harry Winks, Oliver Skipp and Japhet Tanganga. They lag way behind their 'Big Six' rivals when it comes to promoting players from within, even if they have made themselves closer to the senior team, as best demonstrated with the acquisitions of teenagers Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray, Luka Vuskovic and Mason Melia.
Heading into 2025-26 under Frank, who has spent much of his adult life as a youth coach, Spurs wanted to see more of a clear pathway from the academy into the first team. Indeed, the Dane has been frequently quizzed on his plans to integrate Hotspur Way's best and brightest into his setup.
"I think it's the fine balance that he needs to play and develop somewhere where he gets pushed enough but it's not too tough," Frank said one day before handing Williams-Barnett his debut. "And other times where he needs to be pushed very hard and it's tricky for him to cope with the intensity or the physicality. So it's just to try to strike that balance."
On the 87-minute mark of their 3-0 win against Doncaster Rovers in the Carabao Cup in September, Williams-Barnett replaced Mathys Tel to become the 900th different player to feature for the men's team, with only six players younger than he was when putting on that lilywhite shirt for the first time.
"I'm over the moon. Coming out for my boyhood club… It's crazy." a breathless Williams-Barnett said post-match. Frank, for his part, was pleased to have had a say in the teenager's development, telling a press conference: "I think it's always a pleasure to be part of a young player's debut. So, yeah, happy with that. I think that definitely over the last many years the focus on the talent development and academies across the world is so big. So the talent pool is bigger. There are these talents coming through that are younger and younger. But one thing is the debut when you're 16. The next step, and much more important, is how Luca or other players take those steps forward. It's very tough to keep going and then get into the first team as a really regular player. But the first step is very important."
Williams-Barnett has since travelled with the senior team and appeared on the bench, though has otherwise played exclusively for Spurs' U21s domestically and U19s in the UEFA Youth League, registering eight goals and seven assists in 11 games at those levels combined. Of note, he grabbed a hat-trick inside 39 minutes during a 6-3 victory against Leicester City.
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Biggest strengths
One look at Williams-Barnett's stats tells you he is a player who knows where the goal is. Through 41 official matches from U16s to U21s, he's found the net 30 times and laid on 20 assists, mainly starting in the hole, though he has also been deployed on either flank.
Beyond the raw numbers, Williams-Barnett plays with such an elegance and enthusiasm that may one day make him worth the price of admission alone. He can burst from stationary to full tilt incredibly swiftly, while his two-footedness makes him an even more unpredictable threat for defenders to nullify, as he is known for switching the ball between his left and right mid-run.
These attributes alone make Williams-Barnett one of the most devastating young players in transition anywhere in the world, but that's not where his skillset ends. That ambidexterity of his lends itself nicely to the rocket of a shot he possesses, capable of picking out the top corner on either foot from pretty much anywhere a la former Spurs favourites Son Heung-min and Christian Eriksen.
And when we say 'anywhere', we mean it. Williams-Barnett has already scored from the halfway line three times in matches for Spurs' youth teams. . That's just on record, too. Imagine how often he's made a fool of his own goalkeeper in training sessions. Maybe Guglielmo Vicario has even fallen foul to such a fate.
Speaking after Williams-Barnett's cameo against Doncaster, midfielder Gray was adamant that Spurs have a gem on their hands. "I think if he had 10 more minutes, he could have scored. I was saying to him at the end, if he had a few more chances to get at the full-back. We've seen him in training, he's so sharp and it's so exciting to see young players like that come through and do well in games and get given chances. I was once in his position, so I know what it's like, so I'll be helping him all the way."