It is quite remarkable how quickly things can change in football, and those affiliated with Tottenham Hotspur will only be too happy to delineate the club's emphatic turnaround.
Manager Ange Postecoglou is the architect of the revolution, having transformed a suffering outfit that finished eighth in the Premier League last season but now look set for an exciting campaign fighting against the likes of Manchester City and Arsenal at the top of the table.
Tottenham are perched in first-place in the English top flight after eight games, and while there is a very long road ahead, the signs of newfound, lasting positivity are there for all to see.
The results on the pitch have been emphatic but are simply a product of the astute transfer work plied over the summer, and while the likes of James Maddison and Micky van de Ven have captured the awe, prospects such as Alejo Veliz hold potential enough to cement a starring role on English shores in the near future.
How is Alejo Veliz getting on at Tottenham?
Signed from Argentinian side Rosario Central for around £13m in August, Veliz is a 20-year-old centre-forward with a natural inclination for aerial dominance.
Last year, the sharpshooter posted 11 goals and two assists from just 23 games, with talent scout Jacek Kulig touting him as the "complete" striker.
And while he has only made two fleeting substitute displays for the Lilywhites thus far,the youngster is acclimatising to life in Europe and will see a rise in importance as the season progresses.
His former coach, Adrian Dezotti, said this of his faculties: “Alejo is really intelligent but also very cunning, mischievous. He has a lot of tricks up his sleeve, a lot of street smarts. He’s a strategist, a quick thinker."
The 6 foot 1, physical forward offers a range of tools but has earned early acclaim for his "incredible" and "fearsome" prowess in the air, drifting above the clouds to latch onto balls out of reach for the lion's share – winning 4.95 aerial duels per game over the past year (FBref).
He is a distinctive, focal frontman, the kind of striker that gets the footballing traditionalists all starry-eyed and wobbly-kneed. A man of prodigious potential and a dream for creative peers.
He might not even be the biggest talent at Spurs' disposal though, with Jude Soonsup-Bell dazzling at youth level this season and looking to rival his South American counterpart for a place in his senior manager's plans.
Who is Jude Soonsup-Bell?
Despite impressing within the prestigious Cobham Academy, Soonsup-Bell joined Tottenham on a free transfer in January as he approached the culmination of his contract with Chelsea and had not been offered fresh terms.
The Blues have instated a sell-on clause but deemed the precocious hopeful unlikely to wedge his way into the first team with such congested youth ranks.
Now, however, the 19-year-old is comfortably ensconced in Tottenham's U21 team, having started the 2023/24 campaign in stunning form, very much knocking on Postecoglou's door should his early-season feats be sustained.
Spurs fought off competition from the likes of Manchester City to secure his services, and now look to be reaping the rewards, boasting a prodigy to partner someone of Veliz's ilk up front.
The pairing are not the only offensive aces with high ceilings but illustrate the incredible development across the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with the outfit very much on the up and improving from the pitch to the training ground to the very air of the dressing room.
Season
Apps
Goals
Assists
23/24
6
6
2
22/23
21
4
2
21/22
36
8
5
20/21
27
19
0
19/20
1
0
0
It's worth noting that the teenage talent most prolific spell to date, during the 2020/21 season, was played at U18 level, with the subsequent campaigns underscoring the improvements made to date – indeed crescendoing in his thunderous present purple patch.
And while Tottenham boast one of the richest youth ranks across all of Europe, Soonsup-Bell's multi-faceted qualities put him right at the top of the pecking order, with a senior debut under Postecoglou surely not too far away.
What is Jude Soonsup-Bell's style of play?
Soonsup-Bell is a talented forward and one who has successfully been shifted across positions during the maiden phase of his career, and while this vortex of instability could derail the progress of some, he has used it to impressively develop different aspects of his game.
Such is corroborated by his older brother, who sang the rising phenom's praises in 2021, highlighting his best attributes that set him in such good stead for a starring role in the Premier League in the future.
He said: "Chelsea saw that he could score goals but contribute more to mould him quickly into a centre forward.
"He is athletic, as a No.9 should be, and he is quite tall and quick. But, for me, his best attribute is his intelligence both on and off the ball. He has the brain for the sport, with composure on the ball.
Chelsea's loss is Tottenham's gain, and while the Blues appear to have failed to learn from past mistakes – letting the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah depart as prospects before they bloomed – Postecoglou would love nothing more than to use Soonsup-Bell as a reminder of what could have been.
Salah, in particular, is a relevant case, with the Egpytian among the most clinical forwards in the world and boasting a technical prowess unrivalled aside from the select few in the pantheon of modern greats.
This season alone, the 31-year-old has already plundered six goals and four assists from ten outings, heralded as world-class" by pundit and colour commentator Gary Neville.
The Liverpool star's electric pace, adroit mobility and intellect in decisive passages blend to create a special threat, and one that Soonsup-Bell is showing signs of emulating.
This season, having scored six times and provided two assists, he's boasting the kind of balance that truly can entrap opponents, having fluctuated between a central striking role and a position on the right wing.
A real “handful” for defenders, as was said by football.london's Alasdair Gold, the Spurs starlet is not a carbon copy of Salah but definitely offers similar characteristics, and the evidence is there that he could be moulded into a phenom with a razor-sharp cutting edge.
If Veliz and Soonsup-Bell are provided with the license to build a strike partnership over the coming months and years, the Premier League might be in line for a new force to be reckoned.
With the Argentine's 'fearsome' aerial ability and the former Chelsea youngster's destructive, dynamic threat, the eager Spurs support could rest assured with the knowledge that the future is in safe hands – a future that will sustain this new position of strength.
