This summer, Tottenham Hotspur sent two of its young players — 20-year-old midfielder Alfie Devine and 17-year-old central defender Luka Vuskovic — on loan to Belgium Jupiler League club Westerlo for the season. Both loans have been a roaring success, particularly that of Vuskovic, who will technically join Spurs this summer from Croatian side Hajduk Split when he turns 18. Vuskovic has been a revelation for Westerlo, locking down a starting position and scoring four goals so far from the back line, all before becoming a legal adult.
Now, according to a press release from Westerlo, things have gone so well with both sides pleased with the loans that the two clubs are working towards arranging a future partnership that will continue to see Spurs send promising young talent to the Belgian club. According to the release, officials from both clubs met recently “to explore deeper and more extensive collaboration opportunities in the future.”
Since the arrival of Vuskovic and Devine, KVC Westerlo’s sports department and Tottenham Hotspur’s have maintained close contact. Thanks to Tottenham’s careful monitoring of their loaned talents, a monthly review meeting is scheduled to go over Luka and Alfie’s performance reports.
An additional meeting between both clubs has now been added to these monthly reviews. Tottenham’s chairman Daniel Levy, Chief Football Officer Scott Munn, and Technical Director Johan Lange joined our vice-president Hasan Cetinkaya and board member S. Berk Ercan at the table.
The impressive performances of Vuskovic and Devine on the field for Westerlo have proven to be a catalyst for strengthening future collaborations between KVC Westerlo and Tottenham Hotspur off the field as well. As a first gesture of appreciation for the current partnership, both club boards exchanged team jerseys. This may be the first step toward a future exchange of ideas, players, and resources.
— Press release, KVC Westerlo
Now, exchanging team jerseys doesn’t seem like a very big deal, and it isn’t. But it is, as stated, a first step towards establishing a more robust relationship between the clubs that will hopefully be more beneficial. We don’t know yet what a future collaboration will look like. More youngsters heading to Belgium for development is almost certain, but who knows what else — possible preseason friendlies? Academy exchanges? Right of first refusal for any Westerlo talent that may be Premier League level?
Other Premier League clubs have had relationships with continental clubs in smaller leagues — think of Chelsea’s now-defunct relationship with Dutch side Vitesse that saw many of their fringe and academy players shipped there on loan. I doubt we’ll see something that extensive, but having a few clubs like Westerlo in your back pocket that would be interested in developing young players for some mutual benefit is always a good idea. We’ll have to see if anything develops from this new relationship in the future. In the meantime, Vuskovic and Devine both look like solid talents that will help Spurs in the future, and you can draw a line between that development and their loan experience in Belgium this season.