Again Birmingham City's Deal Collapsed With Leyton Orient, Will Blues Rivals Sign Him?

Jamie Donley is set to join Leyton Orient on loan, despite interest from Birmingham City, Luton Town, and Oxford United.
The talented 19-year-old attacker’s impressive stats show his natural attacking ability, with 20 goals and assists in the previous season.
The Orient move makes sense for Donley’s development, offering him more playing time and a familiar environment close to his parent club.

Leyton Orient are set to sign Tottenham Hotspur youngster Jamie Donley on loan, amid reported interest from the likes of Birmingham City, Luton Town and Oxford United.

The 19-year-old attacker, who has been deployed as a left-back in Ange Postecoglu’s Spurs side in pre-season, is going to join Richie Wellens’ side on a temporary basis, according to Darren Witcoop.

Donley featured in five of his parent side’s pre-season match-ups, racking up two assists in the process while playing way out of position. His numbers from the 2023/24 Premier League 2 campaign display how natural an attacking mind he has, with 20 combined goals and assists in as many appearances.

Leyton Orient to win race for Jamie Donley

Witcoop has stated that the teenager will be heading to the Orient, who have beaten off some strong competition to get his signature.

Their reported interest in the player stems back to last November, when TEAMtalk linked them and Charlton Athletic with Donley.

Since then, other EFL sides have also been named as prospective suitors, including Luton Town and Oxford United.

Birmingham looked like they could be the ones who acquired Donley for the season. Tom Barclay reported that their boss Chris Davies – former assistant to Postecoglu at Spurs – wanted to reunite with the youngster and bring him to St Andrew’s.

The Blues’ boss worked with the attacking midfielder during his time as the Aussie manager’s right-hand man. This pre-established connection between the two could have been a big pulling factor for the 19-year-old.

At the time of Barclay’s report, the north London side hadn’t made a decision on Donley’s future, but they, or the player himself, have seemingly chosen Wellens over the familiarity of Davies.

This will be the player’s first ever loan move of his career, but his use by Postecoglu in pre-season displays the faith that Tottenham have in him. Witcoop has said that Donley will be one of a number of Spurs youngsters that will temporarily leave the club to join EFL sides this summer.

Donley will be the second Tottenham youth to go out on loan, after Oxford confirmed the season-long signing of Dane Scarlett on Monday evening.