The five Spurs players to have won the EFL Young Player of the Year award

Since the rebranding of the English Football League (EFL), there have been five players named its Young Player of the Season before going onto make north London their home.

Our latest recruit, Archie Gray – who signed a six-year deal with the Club on Tuesday afternoon – is the fifth player to make the switch to Hotspur Way having been recently named the Championship’s best-performing youngster.

Always a hive of talent, we have seen a whole catalogue of players come through our doors having earned their spurs in the Football League. Whether that be prior to them coming into our fold – in the case of James Maddison – or as part of their development after coming through our system – in the case of Harry Kane – the league has always seen stars emerge.

Since it’s rebrand in 2004 and the subsequent launch of the EFL Awards in 2006, there have been 19 players who have shone brightest and claimed the Young Player of the Year award - and five of them have gone onto become Spurs.

With Archie becoming the fifth, here’s a look at those young stars and how they fared in Lilywhite.

Watch - Archie Gray's first interview as a Spurs player

Gareth Bale

2006/2007 EFL Young Player of the Year

Spurs career: 2007-2013 and 2020/21

Little introduction is needed for this man. A true Spurs legend and, without any shadow of a doubt, a legendary figure of the modern game. Period.

Having made his breakthrough into the professional game at the age of 16 with Southampton in April, 2006, he enjoyed a sublime maiden campaign in 2006/07, making 38 appearances and scoring five goals to help the Saints to the Championship Play-Off Final, and those performances didn’t go unnoticed as he was named the EFL Young Player of the Year. Those displays also earned him a move to the Premier League as that summer he signed for us and, despite slow beginnings, went on to become one of our greatest ever players.

That night at the San Siro in November, 2010, will forever live in the memories of Spurs fans. Electric and clinical, the dynamic winger famously scored a second-half hat-trick at the iconic home of then European champions Internazionale to shock the Italian giants and reignite our maiden Champions League campaign.

Watch: Bale's best Spurs goals

Those goals announced Bale on the world stage and in the next couple of years, his status only grew and it culminated in a quite-sensational 2012/13 season – a term in which he scored 26 goals in just 44 matches and collected every domestic individual award he could get his hands on, including the Premier League Player of the Season award.

That summer, he moved to Real Madrid where his star only continued to rise as he became one of the most decorated players in the history of European football, claiming five Champions League crowns in nine years in the Spanish capital.

He enjoyed a brief homecoming back in 2020/21 as he returned to north London for a sole campaign on loan. He remained as clinical as ever, scoring 11 goals in just 20 Premier League appearances. The only sad thing about his return was it came in a season in which football was played behind closed doors as a result of the COVID-19 restrictions meaning few fans saw Bale dazzle once more in Lilywhite in the flesh.

Retiring from the professional game in 2022, Gareth also enjoyed a stirring international career. A Wales international, ‘Gaz’ helped his country to their first ever major international tournament since the 1958 World Cup in 2016 as they qualified for the European Championship finals where they enjoyed a fairytale run, reaching the semi-finals – their best-ever tournament performance. He also captained them at the 2020 Euros and the 2022 World Cup.

Watch: Bale's return to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Dele

2014/2015 EFL Young Player of the Year

Spurs career: 2015-2022

One of our shining lights in the past decade, Dele blew away all expectation when he made the step up from the third tier of English football to the Premier League back in 2015.

Signed midway through the 2014/15 season as MK Dons pushed for an historic first-ever promotion to England’s second tier, Dele was immediately loaned back to the Buckinghamshire outfit, a club he had come through the ranks at, for the remainder of the campaign as he helped them complete the job and reach the Championship – he chipped in with 16 goals in 39 league appearances.

Linking up with our first team at the start of 2015, he made his debut as a substitute in an opening day clash against Manchester United at Old Trafford and just two weeks later he scored his first goal for the Club in a 1-1 draw at Leicester City. A player with incredible energy and a fascinating competitiveness, he was ideal in Mauricio Pochettino’s system as his ability and desire to press allowed the team to be front-footed and dynamic, enabling us to take the game to our opponents. He enjoyed a stunning breakthrough season which, not only saw his key attributes come to the fore, but also included him scoring his most iconic Spurs goal – that flick, spin and volley against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park! That was one of 10 top flight goals that maiden season which was rounded off with him claiming the PFA Young Player of the Year award.

His rise in English football continued into our final season at White Hart Lane as he helped us to our best-ever finish in the Premier League while scoring 18 goals in 37 appearances. He was also named the PFA Young Player of the Year for a consecutive season making him just the third player to achieve that feat after Wayne Rooney and Robbie Fowler.

Watch: Dele's Premier League goals

More memorable moments followed in the coming seasons, including a famous brace at Stamford Bridge as we claimed three points at the home of Chelsea for the first time in 28 years in April, 2018, and a goal for England in the World Cup quarter-finals that summer.

In that time, he had enjoyed the fortune of largely going without injury but, in January, 2019, a hamstring injury picked up away at Fulham was seemingly the start of a tricky period with injuries for the forward. Despite that, the man from MK continued to produce moments of magic – his performance and impact in the iconic 3-2 win away at Ajax in the 2018/19 Champions League Final cannot be understated as his link up with Lucas Moura and Fernando Llorente was crucial to the dramatic turnaround. He also enjoyed a revival after the appointment of Jose Mourinho as the Portuguese coach deployed Dele further forward which saw him  blossom in front of goal once more. In 2020/21, another incredible strike came as he produced a stunning free-kick against AC Wolfsberger.

A player with remarkable fitness, someone who could outrun perhaps all of his opponents and team-mates, when Nuno Espirito Santo became Head Coach, those attributes came to the fore once more as he was deployed in central midfield where he could unleash his tenacity. However, after our struggles under Espirito Santo, Dele was unable to make an impact under Antonio Conte and ultimately departed the Club in January, 2022.

To date, Dele has earned 37 England caps, all of which came during his first five years with us.

Watch: Dele's incredible overhead kick in the Europa League

Ryan Sessegnon

2017/18 EFL Young Player of the Year

Championship Player of the Year

Championship Apprentice Award

Spurs career: 2019-2024

A very recent departure from the Club, Ryan Sessegnon enjoyed a mixed-spell with us after starring in the Championship.

Making his debut at the age of 16 in England’s second tier, the left-sided attacking outlet enjoyed a very encouraging breakthrough season for his first Club Fulham in 2016/17, making 30 appearances before being included in the PFA’s Team of the Season – the youngest ever player to achieve that feat. The following season, his status just continued to rise.

Scoring a league hat-trick aged just 17-years-old – the youngest to do so in England’s top four tiers since a certain Dele in 2014, in the 2017/18 season, he didn’t miss a game as he scored 15 goals in the Championship season to help Fulham earn promotion back to the Premier League via the play-offs. Versatile in positions up and down the left-hand side, the England youth international was recognised at the EFL Awards as not just the best young player across the three EFL divisions, but also the overall Championship Player of the Season. He remained at Fulham for their first season back in the Premier League and missed just two games as he looked to make his mark on the top flight. At the end of that campaign, he made the move across the capital to join us.

Joining us with a hamstring injury, it wasn’t until November that Ryan made his first appearance for us as we drew 1-1 at Everton in the Premier League, but he did make an immediate impact on the European stage as in his first two Champions League outings, he first grabbed an assist on his debut in a 4-0 win at Crvena zvezda before he scored against FC Bayern at the Allianz.

In 2020/21, he headed out on loan to Hoffenheim in the German Bundesliga before returning for a campaign where it seemed his Spurs career really got going. Injured throughout Nuno Espirito Santo’s tenure at the Club, he returned to fitness as Antonio Conte took charge of the team and found a home at left-wing back in the Italian’s synonymous 3-5-2 formation.

Bar a couple of minor setbacks with injuries across that season, Sess was first choice for the former Internazionale coach, playing a crucial role in the side as we went onto secure a return to the Champions League. His importance to Conte’s system continued into the next season as he featured in all bar five of our first 22 games of that campaign as another top four finish looked on the cards. However, in early February, the defender picked up a hamstring injury which kept him out of the rest of the season.

Undergoing surgery at the start of the next campaign as he looked to sort the hamstring issue, he played once more for us – a substitute appearance against Burnley in the FA Cup third round in January – before he suffered a hamstring issue in his other leg as he looked to step up his recovery in an Under-21 encounter with West Ham. He didn’t play again for us before departing N17 at the end of the campaign.

Brennan Johnson

2021/2022 EFL Championship Young Player of the Year

Spurs career: 2023-present

A signing for us on deadline day last summer, Brennan made the switch to north London from boyhood club Nottingham Forest and enjoyed an encouraging debut season in Lilywhite.

Son of former Forest forward David Johnson, Brennan joined the Tricky Trees as a young boy and rose through their ranks before becoming a first team regular after a promising loan spell with Lincoln City in 2020/21 – a campaign in which he scored his first-ever professional hat-trick, taking just 11 minutes to do so and helping Lincoln to the SkyBet League One Play-Off Final.

Watch: All Brennan Johnson's assists from 2023/24

Returning to the City Ground for the following season, he enjoyed a stunning campaign under Steve Cooper as the former England youth boss took the Reds from relegation candidates to the cusp of automatic promotion. Finishing in the play-offs, Forest ultimately earned promotion back to the Premier League for the first time in a quarter of a century. Johnson was the top scorer for his club in that season, scoring 16 times in 46 appearances, and struck in both legs of their play-off semi-final tie with Sheffield United as he was named teh Championship Young Player of the Season. He then played every game of the 2022/23 campaign as Forest retained their Premier League status, contributing to 11 goals.

That summer, he made the move to north London and really grew into life under Ange Postecoglou. Enduring a slow start that was disrupted by injury, the boy from Nottingham slowly started to find his feet in Lilywhite and, after a spell where he found a knack of making a huge impact off the bench, he earned back his starting berth and ultimately thrived. At the end of that maiden campaign he had registered 10 Premier League assists making him just the fourth player to ever record double figures for assists in their debut season in N17.