Leyton Orient set to beat Birmingham City to Tottenham signing | OneFootball

The 19-year-old was wanted by many EFL sides this summer.

Highlights

Leyton Orient are set to sign Tottenham Hotspur youngster Jamie Donley on loan, amid reported interest from the likes of Birmingham City, Luton Town and Oxford United.

The 19-year-old attacker, who has been deployed as a left-back in Ange Postecoglu's Spurs side in pre-season, is going to join Richie Wellens' side on a temporary basis, according to Darren Witcoop.

Donley featured in five of his parent side's pre-season match-ups, racking up two assists in the process while playing way out of position. His numbers from the 2023/24 Premier League 2 campaign display how natural an attacking mind he has, with 20 combined goals and assists in as many appearances.

Leyton Orient to win race for Jamie Donley

Witcoop has stated that the teenager will be heading to the Orient, who have beaten off some strong competition to get his signature.

Their reported interest in the player stems back to last November, when TEAMtalk linked them and Charlton Athletic with Donley.

Since then, other EFL sides have also been named as prospective suitors, including Luton Town and Oxford United.

Birmingham looked like they could be the ones who acquired Donley for the season. Tom Barclay reported that their boss Chris Davies - former assistant to Postecoglu at Spurs - wanted to reunite with the youngster and bring him to St Andrew's.

The Blues' boss worked with the attacking midfielder during his time as the Aussie manager's right-hand man. This pre-established connection between the two could have been a big pulling factor for the 19-year-old.

At the time of Barclay's report, the north London side hadn't made a decision on Donley's future, but they, or the player himself, have seemingly chosen Wellens over the familiarity of Davies.

This will be the player's first ever loan move of his career, but his use by Postecoglu in pre-season displays the faith that Tottenham have in him. Witcoop has said that Donley will be one of a number of Spurs youngsters that will temporarily leave the club to join EFL sides this summer.

Donley will be the second Tottenham youth to go out on loan, after Oxford confirmed the season-long signing of Dane Scarlett on Monday evening.

Leyton Orient move makes sense for Donley

A player going out on loan for the first time can be a daunting experience. It's a totally different environment to the years of academy football that they would have experienced up to that point. Sending them somewhere closer to home makes life all the more easy.

With a nearby loan move, he will be able to remain where he is living and be close to his parent club.

There are also the footballing factors. At Birmingham, there's a chance, with the talent that they have, that Donley wouldn't get to play as much as he or Spurs would hope.

He's going on loan to gain experience and develop as a player, not just be an extra body. Even though he's going to be in a worse team, if all goes well with the Orient move, he will be expected to get much more minutes under his belt. That's what is ultimately going to help him in the long-term.