Tottenham's Academy shake up continues: Levy's failed legacy is being dismantled as another fee agreed
Tottenham Hotspur and Polish Ekstraklasa side Pogoń Szczecin have agreed a fee for 21-year-old English centre-back Alfie Dorrington. The player has been permitted to speak with the club and is expected to undergo a medical and further talks over personal terms.
This would be a permanent transfer - and not another loan. Pogoń are strengthening their defence for the new Ekstraklasa season. For Tottenham, it’s an opportunity to move on a young player who’s below several senior centre-backs in the pecking order under the current manager.
The deal isn’t fully done yet — personal terms and the medical are still pending — but clubs agreeing a fee is a big step. Reliable sources like Ben Jacobs and others have reported it.
You can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs
This is against a backdrop of broader change at Spurs, and as the saying goes, some will be left wondering what is happening at Hotspur Way.
The emotional overinvestment by some, not all, has been embarrassing. Fans have been fed a steady and stodgy diet of expectation, based upon nothing but unnecessary and frequently incomprehensible reporting by Alasdair Gold.
Tottenham have so far confirmed the departures of 10 academy players in early June 2026 following the 2025/26 season:
U21s: Pele Arganese-McDermott (to Crawley Town, free), Tyrell Ashcroft, Leo Black, Dante Cassanova, Matthew Craig, Calum Logan (mostly end-of-contract/free).
U18s: Jamel Beggs, Samal Bangura, Leon Myrtaj (to Debreceni VSC, free), Elijah Upson (highly rated centre-back who joined rivals Arsenal on a training compensation fee after turning down a new deal).
It is worth noting that no other major academy signings stand out in the reports. Activity has been quieter on the incoming side compared to the first team’s big-money deals, e.g., Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes.
The golden boys are being moved on. Will Lankshear has transferred out of Tottenham. He has joined Middlesbrough in a deal reportedly worth up to £20 million (£10m fixed + £10m add-ons).
Mikey Moore has no clear first-team pathway right now due to Tottenham’s attacking rebuild (new signings like Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, and potential further additions). A loan is the preferred option to ensure regular senior minutes and continued development. Both Rangers and a smattering of European sides, led by Borussia Dortmund, are thought to be interested.
Daniel Levy’s legacy is being dismantled
"The academy is important because we can produce our own players. We don't have to go and spend £20m, £30m, £40m on a player and obviously that homegrown player has an affinity with the club that a player we buy doesn't,"
It’s a great quote, but it has aged like milk.
Tottenham has achieved nothing outside of Harry Kane’s rise to fame, and as I have said before, that was an anomaly. He was loaned out because they didn’t know what to do with him, and he effectively reinvented himself. It was Kane’s bloody-mindedness and perseverance that took him to the top. Not Tottenham.
If anything, Harry was held back with us. Imagine what a force we might have been if Levy hadn’t been so cheap-minded.
The reason why Levy never sold Academy players, was to foster the wholly fraudulent illusion that the 'graduates' of our Academy were the first team stars of the future, all in the interests of cost-cutting both on transfer fees and wages. Hence the likes of Winks, Skipp, Onomah, Tanganga, Scarlett, etc were granted almost 'untouchable' status until it became blindingly obvious that they were Championship level dross.
Well now the correct perspective is being applied to both our Academy players and our other acquired youngsters, like Vusco, Bergy, etc. If they're not good enough or if they want out, then they are being sold and for good money (I would suggest excellent money in most cases). The "one of our own" refrain sounds great, if it is based on merit, but otherwise it is merely a hollow pretense, a sordid relic from the cheapskate Levy era, of cost-cutting and penny-pinching.
Thus the whole tenor of this off-season represents a monumental paradigm shift. Our transfer business is being conducted with ambition, methodically, ruthlessly and to a clearly defined plan. Suddenly THFC is acting like a 'big' club, one of the wealthiest clubs in world football, rather than like an impoverished second division outfit. Levy was a parasite, eating away at the very soul of the club, whilst lining his pockets. The 'new ENIC' are at least trying and the difference is palpable.