OPINION
Teenage striker Reo Griffiths has terminated his contract and left Tottenham, according to Football.London, and it’s a huge misstep by the club.
Griffiths, 18, who made a name for himself when he scored four goals against the Arsenal Under-18s in a 9-0 demolition last season, signed a three-year scholarship deal in June.
And this seemed to suggest that he would be staying to develop at Tottenham in a bid to get himself noticed by Mauricio Pochettino and into the first-team.
Griffiths had already had interest from RB Leipzig and Celtic, and now it looks like he’s cancelled his contract to head to a Ligue 1 club, with Lyon being touted as his possible destination.
Spurs will get compensation for a player they brought up through the academy but they’re set to miss out on a real talent that they nurtured and developed, and one that could come back to haunt them.
Griffiths had his issues at Tottenham and was accused of lacking discipline, and it’s hard to know exactly what went on behind the scenes.
Something must have happened between him signing for three years in June and him terminating his contract.
But, if Griffiths felt that he wasn’t getting the push he deserved, it’s easy to see how he would have his head turned.
The fact that so many teams were after him should have pushed the Tottenham alarm bell though and perhaps a clearer path through to the first team should have been shown to Griffiths.
Pochettino has struggled with a secondary striker at Spurs to ease the burden on Harry Kane, with first Vincent Janssen and then Fernando Llorente both failing to make the grade.
Griffiths might have been a year or two off challenging for a spot, but it seems like a huge waste of talent that Tottenham have spent lots of time on.