Tottenham academy midfielder Thorpe to sign with Luton Town

Tottenham Hotspur is losing one of its more promising young academy graduates. 20 year old Wales U21 international and central midfielder Elliot Thorpe has decided to make a change in his career and will join Luton Town on a free transfer after leaving Spurs.

Thorpe posted a farewell message on his Twitter account today. Wales Online is reporting that he will join Luton Town on a free transfer after rejecting the possibility of signing for Bristol City and Cardiff.

This is a bummer. Thorpe was very highly regarded by the Spurs academy coaches and had the potential to possibly become the next Spurs central midfielder to break out of the academy and into the first team. However, that breakthrough was probably at least a couple years away, and Thorpe apparently rejected the offer of a new contract at Tottenham in order to leave now and secure more first team football.

It’s not a bad decision for him. Luton is a Championship club that is currently sitting 12th in the table, and it’s quite likely he will be a factor in the second division. He could even start this weekend vs. Bournemouth.

Wales Online also states that Tottenham rejected a transfer bid from Burnley this summer, and that there was early interest interest from Leicester City and Hoffenheim. It’s curious that Spurs would’ve rejected actual money for Thorpe in order to let him leave on a Bosman, but maybe Spurs were able to work out a deal to get some sort of financial incentive in Thorpe’s new contract? Stranger things have happened, but I have no evidence this is true.

Anyway, it sucks but not every promising youngster that comes through the academy makes it at Spurs, or wants to make it AT Spurs. Thorpe is very likely going to be a good player and I hope he’s able to have a good career at Luton and wherever he ends up after.