Tottenham youngest scorer Alfie Devine debut against Marine (2024)

When Alfie Devine was told on Saturday night that he would be in the Tottenham squad to face Marine, he was not fazed. Instead, he started thinking ahead to the match and how he could make an impact.

Still only 16 and signed by Tottenham as a 15-year-old in July, it takes a lot to knock Devine off his stride. He is viewed at the club as someone who isn’t really daunted by anything. Just ask Chelsea’s former Premier League winner Danny Drinkwater, who Devine battled hard in a recent under-23 match, eventually overstepping the mark with a nasty tackle for which he was sent off.

Against Marine on Sunday, we saw a far more accomplished display from Devine — a creative central midfielder who gets forward and has a knack for making things happen in the final third. “He’s a kid that basically is a midfield player but with an instinct to appear in finishing zones and to score goals,” head coach Jose Mourinho said after Spurs’ 5-0 win. “We like him and, of course, for him today is a special day.”

After being brought on at half-time for his Tottenham debut, becoming Spurs’ youngest ever first-team player in the process, Devine broke another record almost instantly. Just 15 minutes later, he became Spurs’ youngest ever goalscorer with a lovely near-post finish after some quick feet in the opposition box. It was hard not to be cheered by his huge grin and obvious delight at scoring. Devine is just 16 years and 163 days old, and was not born when Mourinho was appointed Chelsea manager in June 2004.

But when it came to signing Devine from Wigan Athletic last summer, Mourinho was not messing around. Spurs had to move quickly since Leeds United and Celtic were pushing hard to secure Devine’s signature, with Rangers, Brighton, West Ham and Chelsea also interested.

As revealed by The Athletic at the time, Tottenham’s chief scout Brian Carey led the pursuit of the player but it was a move rubber-stamped by Mourinho. He even went to Devine’s medical last summer to meet the youngster. It was clear that despite his young age, he was someone who the club would look to fast-track where possible. No-one would ever want to put pressure on a youngster but there is genuine hope that he can make it with the first team.

The fact that he was even signed speaks volumes. As a general policy, Spurs do not like to spend money on players of Devine’s sort of age, preferring to develop from within. Dele Alli, 18 when he signed from MK Dons in February 2015, was an exception, and so was Devine — purchased for around £300,000 (a fee far less than his true valuation, made possible by Wigan’s dire financial position and need to sell).

Devine is extremely well thought of at Tottenham both for his ability but also his character and willingness to learn. There were cheers all around when he scored on Sunday, including from goalkeeper Joe Hart, who allowed himself a celebration in the Spurs area.

He also nearly registered an assist towards the end of the match but Carlos Vinicius couldn’t convert. He completed 35 out of his 37 passes at 95 per cent (only Gareth Bale had a higher percentage) and made 92.3 per cent of his passes in the opposition half.

But, according to those who have watched Devine closely, his level is far, far higher than scoring against eighth-tier Marine. A senior figure at Wigan at the time of Devine’s departure describes the teenager’s cut-price exit as “heartbreaking” for the club. “It still hurts six months later,” the source says.

Devine was one of a number of exciting youngsters that Wigan were forced to sell in the summer, though he is considered by many to be the pick of the bunch. He was part of the Wigan side that beat Spurs last season in the FA Youth Cup and represented their under-23 side despite only being 15. Jamie Carragher, whose own son plays in the Wigan academy, described Devine as “top class” on Twitter when he joined Spurs and added that he was “just gutted Wigan couldn’t keep hold of him after the great work they’ve put into developing him”.

Carragher’s former club Liverpool actually released Devine at the age of 11 but Tottenham, as well as many other Premier League clubs, watched him closely in the lead up to last summer. Coming from nearby Warrington, that early release by Liverpool will have made scoring on Merseyside on Sunday night that little bit sweeter.

Devine’s progress to the point of scoring that first senior goal began from pretty much the moment he joined Tottenham in July. Devine trained with the first team during pre-season and was selected for the friendly against Ipswich Town. Then, having impressed with the under-18s, he was moved up to the under-23s, scoring in his first game for them against Derby County in November.

A month later came that sending off against Chelsea, after which he has been training with the first team. Mourinho was keen not to overhype Devine when asked about him after the Marine game but he is a big admirer. Mourinho would also take satisfaction at contradicting the notion, unfair in his eyes, that he does not promote young talent. He famously produced a dossier with a list of young players he had given a chance to at his unveiling as Manchester United manager, and has referred to his record since taking over at Spurs.

Above all though, the excitement from everyone at Spurs comes from the feeling that they have a genuine potential future first-teamer on their hands. As Devine himself put it on Instagram after the Marine win: “Hopefully more to come.”

That may end up being a pretty major understatement.

(Top photo: Martin Rickett – Pool/Getty Images)