Last January Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Matthew Craig headed out on his first ever loan to League 2 Doncaster United where he had 18 appearances. Now he’s heading out again, but with a step up in competition.
The club announced today that Craig, a Spurs academy graduate, is heading to Barnsley in League One for the entirety of the season.
And not just that, Barnsley is a GOOD League One team — they finished sixth in the table last season, making the promotion playoffs but losing to Bolton Wanderers. So that speaks well of Craig’s ability, and his improvement. Craig is one of those players who seems to fly just a little under the radar compared to his more hyped classmates. But he’s a solid player, even if he may not necessarily be the player who breaks into Spurs’ first team. (Then again, I said the same thing about Ryan Mason!) That said, Craig will likely have a solid professional football career somewhere just below the Premier League level, even if he doesn’t hit the big time.
You might recall that Matthew is a twin — his brother Michael also came up through the Spurs academy but was sold to Reading last summer.
This is the first of what will likely be a number of young Spurs players heading out on loan before the end of the window. Good luck in League One, Matthew!