Tottenham youngster Harvey White has completed a loan move to Portsmouth for the remainder of the 2020/21 season.
Seen as one for the future by Jose Mourinho and his staff given his brilliant displays for the club's youngsters over the past 18 months, the 19-year-old signed a new long-term deal to extend his stay at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium until 2024 last month.
Training with the first-team squad on a regular basis at the club's Enfield base since Mourinho's arrival at the club in November 2019, White was finally handed his senior bow in November against Ludogorets in the Europa League after a number of appearances on the bench.
The youngster was then given the nod to start in the recent FA Cup tie away at Marine, with White playing the full 90 minutes in the 5-0 win in Crosby.
Given the amount of players ahead of him in the pecking order at Tottenham, Mourinho and the club have now decided that it's best for the player to gain some valuable playing experience in a first-team environment on a regular basis at Portsmouth.
Kenny Jackett's side are currently third in League One and four points off league leaders Lincoln City with a game in hand, thus giving White the perfect platform to play in some very important games between now and May with promotion on the line.
Jackett believes the Spurs academy graduate is now "100 per cent ready to feature in the EFL" as he opened up on the January addition when speaking to Portsmouth's official website.
“He’s a left-footed player and an excellent footballer. He’s also a set-piece specialist, with a very good range of passing," said the experienced manager.
“After breaking through and working with the Tottenham first team over the past year, he’s now 100 per cent ready to feature in the EFL.”
The departure of White to the League One club now suggests that Gedson Fernandes could indeed remain in N17 for the rest of the season amid talk of an early return to Benfica.
Joining from the Portuguese giants on an 18-month loan deal last January, the 22-year-old has barely featured for the Lilywhites and has spent the vast majority of the season watching on from the sidelines instead.
However, Mourinho seemed to drop a bit of a hint over the player's future on Sunday with his team selection against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.
Opting against naming Dele Alli, Harry Winks or White in the matchday squad, it was Gedson who took his place on the bench ahead of the trio for the game in South Yorkshire.
The fact he was selected suggests that he could well be about to stick around for the rest of the season as it would be rather strange for him to be given the nod ahead of some squad regulars only for him then to depart back to Benfica a few days later.
Mourinho has a number of options to play in midfield for Tottenham but one thing he will not want to do is leave himself short in the middle of the park over the coming months given how important they are going to be to the team's aspirations.
Amid the uncertainty over Alli's future this month and now White's loan move to Portsmouth, Tottenham's January exit plan for Gedson may well have just changed.
