Tottenham Hotspur starlet Alfie Devine has been featured in The Athletic as part of the ‘My Football Journey’ project, and he has opened up about the experience of being released by Liverpool as a youngster.
Thankfully, Devine landed on his feet after that and is now regarded as one of the top prospects in the youth set-up at Tottenham. The 18-year-old even scored on his Spurs debut, in the FA Cup tie with Marine back in the 2020/21 season (Transfermarkt).
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That appearance and goal made him the youngest player to feature for the Spurs first team and Tottenham’s youngest-ever goalscorer, at just 16 years and 163 days old (TottenhamHotspur.com).
The youngster hasn’t managed to break into the first team since, but is expected to have a big part to play in the future at the club.
Devine was part of the Liverpool academy until the age of 11, when he was released. He was subsequently picked up by Wigan Athletic, before making the move to Tottenham in the summer of 2020.
Speaking to The Athletic, Devine explained how that initial rejection from Liverpool felt: “I was in year seven when I was released by Liverpool. The hardest part was worrying about what my mates were going to say. Feeling embarrassed about it when you shouldn’t.”
“I didn’t want to go to school because people would ask, ‘Why aren’t you at Liverpool anymore?’ You don’t want to say you got released. But it’s not really a bad thing, lots of top professionals have been released from clubs at an early age.”
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This sounds like a very level-headed mentality to have about the experience, and it clearly isn’t something that has held Alfie Devine back in his career. He’s got such a bright future ahead of him, and hopefully we can see him flourish in the Tottenham first team soon.
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