Tottenham are looking to break new ground and are offering teenage star Mikey Moore a record salary.
The 16-year-old has reportedly agreed to sign his first professional contract with the club, which will come into effect on Sunday, his 17th birthday.
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Moore is highly regarded by Spurs and that is reflected in the three-year contract he is about to sign, reports The Athletic.
Having shone at academy level and in pre-season so far, it is said that the north Londoners are offering the striker a higher salary than they have ever offered a 17-year-old player.
The contract term is the longest allowed by FIFA regulations for players under the age of 18 and Tottenham will hope it will help deter some of Europe’s biggest clubs from keeping one of their own.
It had previously been reported that Manchester United and Manchester City as well as top German clubs Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund were interested in the teenager.
Moore has made a huge impression since breaking into the Spurs first team at the end of last season, becoming the club’s youngest Premier League player when he made his debut against Man City in May.
The Tottenham academy product made one more league appearance, coming on as a substitute towards the end of the last game against Sheffield United.
This summer he was the star of Ange Postecoglou’s team’s pre-season, scoring goals against Hearts, Vissel Kobe and a Japanese youth national team.
After his 88th-minute goal against J League Kobe, Moore received high praise from his manager: “Mikey has been fantastic since we brought him in.”
“He has earned his place in the squad – he did that at the end of last year.
“He was allowed to play with the first team because we could see in training that he was doing really well, and that continued in the preseason.”
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Postecoglou later added: “We have to remember that he had some injuries last year and he is only 16, but yeah – super exciting.”
Before returning to Spurs for pre-season training in July, Moore was in top form during England’s Under-17 European Championship campaign in Greece.
The young star scored four goals in as many games before England lost on penalties to eventual winners Italy in the quarter-finals.
All signs indicate that Moore is more than ready to take the step into the first team.
The Spurs star had already set an impressive record in the club’s youth teams at the age of 15, scoring 19 goals and providing 13 assists in 24 appearances at U18 level, where he made his breakthrough.
He became the youngest player to make it into Tottenham’s U21 team and scored 18 goals in 31 games for the Three Lions at U15 to U17 level.
With Spurs currently without a homegrown star following Harry Kane’s departure to Bayern in 2023, fans would no doubt like to see one of their own once again deliver the game-winning performance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.