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Tottenham are failing Josh Onomah and he needs to leave Spurs

By Rucker Haringey

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 28: Tottenham Hotspur's Joshua Onomah has a shot at goal during the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round match between Tottenham Hotspur and Wycombe Wanderers at White Hart Lane on January 28, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Craig Mercer - CameraSport via Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 28: Tottenham Hotspur's Joshua Onomah has a shot at goal during the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round match between Tottenham Hotspur and Wycombe Wanderers at White Hart Lane on January 28, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Craig Mercer - CameraSport via Getty Images) /
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Josh Onomah needs to leave Tottenham

It’s no secret that Mauricio Pochettino prefers to keep his young talent at Tottenham rather than loan them out all over Europe. The Spurs boss is certainly entitled to his theory, but he needs to contradict it by providing Josh Onomah a loan away from White Hart Lane.

Onomah, along with quite a few other fringe players, failed to impress anyone in Tottenham’s 4-3 win over Wycombe yesterday. Pochettino was highly critical of the way his squad began against the Wanderers. He pointed out that any member of his squad who couldn’t handle Wycombe in the FA Cup was going to have serious problems competing at the Premier League level.

No player embodied this sentiment more than Onomah. Last season, he looked like he was destined to become the next Spurs’ English star. Unfortunately, this campaign is shaping up to be a lost season for the 19-year-old midfielder.

He was completely anonymous in his hour of action against the Wanderers. He got the start in the number ten role which provide him a golden opportunity to impress his manager. Instead, he failed to have any real impact on the match. Onomah was mercifully subbed off the pitch after an hour by Dele Alli.

The fact that the match changed upon Dele’s arrival was no coincidence. Yes, Dele does happen to be Spurs’ most in-form player at the moment. The reality is that even an average Premier League regular could have served as a significant upgrade over Onomah’s performance in the match.

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At this point, it’s fair to question whether or not Onomah is ever going to become a meaningful part of Tottenham’s first team. He looks a bit like a man without a position at the moment. More skeptical fans would say he looks like a player without a discernible skill. He’s been a passenger in the midfield for most of the year.

The only way he’s going to improve at this juncture is to receive regular playing time somewhere. That clearly isn’t going to happen for him at Tottenham. As such, the only solution is to find him a quality loan somewhere else this month.

Playing U23 (or whatever you want to call it) football just isn’t going to cut it. He needs to play for a club that will depend on him week in and week out. I’m much less particular about what league it happens to be in as I am concerned with their style of play. Onomah desperately needs a loan to a club where he can play for a manager with a similar style of play to Pochettino.

Even if he does receive a quality loan in the next couple of days, he’s going to face a tremendous challenge to break into next year’s Tottenham squad. It isn’t as if Pochettino is short of midfield options at the moment. He’ll need to have a Harry Winks level offseason of improvement to find his way into next year’s first team.

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His only chance for that kind of leap is to receive a quality loan. It may not be Pochettino’s chosen style of player development, but it’s the only hope for Onomah’s Spurs career.

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