Former Northern Ireland international striker Warren Feeney’s son George is poised to be unveiled as a Tottenham Hotspur player, having been linked with Nottingham Forest.
Nottingham Forest have missed out on signing brilliant 16-year-old Glentoran striker George Feeney, who Spurs beat off interest from around the Premier League to sign.
Forest were interested in the teenager who became the Northern Irish club’s youngest ever striker in October last year, when he scored an amazing goal in the second half of Glentoran’s BetMcLean Cup first round win over Dollingstown at the age of 15.
Feeney has been the subject of an international tug-of-war between the Northern Ireland and Wales football organizations, both of which want him on their international teams.
Feeney became a fixture in the Glentoran first team last season and played senior league games despite his age, having scored numerous goals for the East Belfast club’s young reserve team throughout the season.
According to football.london, Tottenham beat off Brighton, Brentford, West Ham, Crystal Palace, and Forest to buy the teenager for a fee that is believed to include future add-ons for Glentoran. The forward will arrive at the north London club next week and will be announced as part of the club’s upcoming intake of new academy scholars, which is typically released to the public in early July each year.
The brilliant young forward, who turned 16 in January, comes from a long history of international footballers. He is the son of Warren Feeney, former Notts County assistant manager and Northern Ireland striker, who managed him at Glentoran. George was born in Newport, so the teenager has represented Northern Ireland and Wales at U16 and U17 levels, respectively, and both countries are said to be interested in signing the pacey, clinical young striker.
If Feeney becomes a senior international one day, he will be the fourth generation in his family to do so, after his father Warren, grandpa Warren Snr, and great grandfather Jim.
There will be some symmetry in the teenager’s career as he will start with Spurs’ successful U18s team, which is managed by Stuart Lewis and includes Bradley Allen and Jermain Defoe, who Feeney’s father Warren played alongside at Bournemouth in 2001 when on loan from Leeds United.
That was later in a season in which a teenage Defoe, on loan from West Ham, had already scored in ten consecutive games, so the England international should be able to pass on a wealth of knowledge to the younger Feeney as he looks to make his mark in the game in the coming months and years.
