Well, this one came out of nowhere. Tottenham Hotspur have announced the termination of youth player Alfie Devine’s loan at Port Vale, with him immediately returning to his parent club:
We can confirm that we have exercised the option to recall Alfie Devine from his loan spell at Port Vale.
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 17, 2024
Alfie is one of Spurs’ brightest young prospects. Nominally an attacking midfielder, he’s shifted deeper while on loan in League One, and is strong technically with a good eye for a pass. He’s also one of the few Spurs players on loan whose loan has been an undoubted success.
Devine played 26 matches in all competitions for The Vale, 20 of which were starts, with a return of three goals and three assists – pretty fantastic for a 19-year-old! He’d become a key part of the Port Vale midfield, and so his loss will be a bitter pill for The Vale to swallow.
It’s great news, however, for Tottenham. Though Tottenham’s long-term plans for Devine haven’t been made official yet, the recall would indicate that the club believe he is ready to continue his development at a higher level. This could either be at Tottenham under Ange Postecoglou (probably unlikely at this point in his career) or potentially a loan to the Championship.
A few rumors are starting to eke out of the depths of the interwebs that he could be headed to Plymouth Argyle; if that sounds familiar, it’s because young Spurs center back Ashley Phillips just headed there to partner with former national age grade manager Ian Foster (no, not the former rugby coach, another one). It seems that Foster rates a few of the young Spurs prospects and with Phillips jumping straight into the starting XI for Plymouth Argyle it would likely be a great landing spot for Alfie.
At this point though, this is just conjecture. What IS official is that Alfie’s stint in League One has been a success, and it’s now over. On to bigger and better things!
EDIT: Here’s a bit of an exit interview between Alfie and Port Vale to sink your teeth into: