The other highly-rated Spurs teenage starlet who suffered a disappointing Portsmouth loan spell
The Spurs forward scored six goals in 39 appearances for Pompey in the 2022-23 season
The former Pompey man was introduced off Spurs’ bench late into Sunday’s Premier League clash.
Replacing Mathys Tel in the 88th minute of the 1-1 draw with Sunderland, it represented Dane Scarlett’s second outing of the season.
The other arrived in the Champions League, once again as a substitute as Thomas Frank’s side defeated Copenhagen 4-0 in November.
At the age of 21, the striker continues to be around Spurs’ first-team, primarily on and off their bench in the current campaign.
He was swiftly moved onto Championship leaders Coventry, viewed by Spurs as a more preferable environment for the talented 19-year-old’s development.
Yang’s stay at Fratton Park was disappointing for all parties, with the South Korean international also having to shoulder a degree of responsibility in his 16 appearances.
Yet it represented another teenage Spurs starlet who failed to live up to lofty expectations in a south-coast loan over the last three-and-a-half years.
A Pompey coup to land the England youth international
At the time, the 18-year-old striker was an England youth international who had also represented Spurs in the Premier League, FA Cup and Uefa Conference League.
His Pompey career started brightly too, with four goals in his opening 10 appearances as he established himself alongside Colby Bishop in Cowley’s attack.
However, by the time John Mousinho arrived as boss in January 2023, Scarlett had gone 17 games without a goal and was an unused substitute for the new head coach’s opening match against Exeter.
From that point, the striker started just four matches - all on the left of an attacking three - while he was unused off the bench for the final four fixtures of the 2022-23 season,
’Dane is a fantastic talent’
In total, Scarlett netted six times in 39 outings - and just once since mid-November 2022 - as his season petered out disappointingly in the second half of the campaign.
Telling The News at the time, Mousinho said: ‘Dane is a fantastic talent and his time at Pompey might seem negative to him, but I don’t think it is.
‘It’s just part of the learning curve, part of the fact that your first loan to a Football League club can be tough, there’s a lot to take into account.
‘If you come away from a loan spell like Dane did, having played 39 games, scored six goals, had experience at League One level, having had success, having had adversity, I think that’s really, really positive.
‘Sometimes players go on loan and don't have much playing time at all, there’s no exposure, they don't face any of the highs and lows of football because they’re not involved that much.
‘He’s had that involvement and I’m 100 per cent sure that, when he looks back on his career, this loan has played a huge role in the formation of him as a football player.’
Mixed spells at Ipswich and Oxford United
Scarlett’s next loan was at Championship level with Ipswich in their 2023-24 promotion season, although his stay was ended by his parent club at the midway mark, having failed to score in 12 appearances and not starting a single match.
In August 2024, he went to newly-promoted Oxford United in the Championship on loan, yet was recalled by Spurs in January 2025, following 22 appearances, consisting of seven league starts and four goals.
He subsequently featured five times for Ange Postecoglou’s men during the second half of the 2024-25 Premier League season, while scored off the bench against Elfsborg in the Europa League.
‘It doesn’t always happen in straight lines’
Reflecting on Scarlett’s Pompey spell, former first-team coach Simon Bassey told The News in February 2024: ‘Dane was a touch more humble than Miguel (Azeez). A good kid, but young and still had a lot to do. This was new to him, certainly when Dane came he wasn’t used to a 4-4-2.
‘I started him at Bolton in the Papa John’s Trophy. He’s a brilliant presser, his great attribute is pressing against the ball, so I wanted to see whether he could do that role off the left, coming in on his right foot and shooting. He had a brilliant shot off his right foot.
‘It doesn’t always happen in straight lines for these kids and sometimes failure is good for them. These top Academies are full of people telling you how well you are doing and they protect them from the realities of football.
‘The realities are sometimes you fail, so what do you do about that? How do you come back from that? It can shape your career. It’s what you do when that failure comes which determines how you go in the future.
‘I am sure Dane is going to be a good player. I wish him well, some of them find their level and only time tells when that is.’
And currently the 21-year-old is featuring in the Premier League, with Spurs continuing to have high hopes for the one-time Fratton Park loanee.
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