Former Portsmouth loanee reassured of Spurs future after benefitting from Fratton Park stint

The promising striker was introduced at half-time of their Carabao Cup second-round encounter with Fulham on Tuesday night.

Following a 1-1 draw, Spurs were eliminated following a 5-3 penalty shoot-out defeat, although Scarlett didn’t take a spot-kick.

Regardless, it represented the 19-year-old’s first outing since returning from spending last season on loan with the Blues.

Scarlett netted six times in 40 appearances, although has one goal in the year 2023 and started just four matches under John Mousinho.

Nonetheless, Spurs retain high hopes for the England under-20 international – and Postecoglou sang his praises after his Fulham involvement.

He told football.london: ‘Yeah I thought he was bright when he came on. He has been really good for us in training, he's working really hard.

‘Look, I'll sit down with Dane over the next couple of days and sort of chart a way forward for him. I really think he's definitely got a future at our club and I really like his attributes as a striker.

‘It's always a balance with young players, will they get enough game time because the next stage of their development is to play. He played a fair few games last year and I think he's improved as a player since then.

‘I'll make that decision over the next couple of days and sit down with him, but I certainly see him as a Tottenham player and a lot of that will depend on what else happens over the next two or three days.’

Life at Fratton Park began promisingly enough for Scarlett, who netted four times in his opening 10 appearances.

That included a double in a 2-1 win over Peterborough in September 2022 – the Blues’ League One opposition on Saturday.

However, he would score just twice more during his south-coast stay, while performances dipped significantly from the turn of the year.

Scarlett came off the bench to score a last-gasp winner over Burton in February 2023, but otherwise struggled to establish himself under Mousinho.

All four of his starts under the head coach came on the left wing and, by the season’s end, was an unused substitute in four successive fixtures.