‘Knew What I Was Coming Into’ – Tottenham Talent Handling Loan Deep End | OneFootball

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Tottenham Hotspur out-on-loan talent Alfie Devine has claimed that he was fully aware of the challenges he would face with Preston North End before signing for the club and thinks that everything is working for him at the moment.

The 21-year-old Tottenham attacking midfielder spent last season on loan with Belgian outfit Westerlo, where he made regular appearances and turned some heads with his performances.

Devine, who came through Spurs’ academy system, joined Preston in the summer to ply his trade under new boss Paul Heckingbottom, who is an admirer of his talents.

His career at Deepdale has taken a flying start as he has registered two goals in his first five games and on Saturday it was the Spurs loanee’s goal that sealed a 1-0 victory for Preston against Derby County.

Devine claimed that he perfectly knew what he was getting into when he decided to join Preston and stressed that so far the move is working well for him.

The Spurs talent stated that every game in the Championship brings different challenges and thinks that the most important thing for him now is to clock as much game time as possible for Preston.

When asked about whether everything he was told before the move by Deepdale is coming to fruition, Devine told Preston’s in-house media (1:30): “I think so.

“Obviously in Championship football each game they come fast and every game is different, but I think, for myself personally, it is just about now, just getting the games in and stuff like that.

“Like I said before, in the first half [against Derby] we showed what we were about, limiting them to pretty much nothing and then we showed what we can do on and off the ball.

“I thought the defenders were superb.

“For the first half they didn’t have a sniff and even when you were under pressure like that in the end, it was resilience and as a group to do it [defending], so yes, I knew what I was coming into and so far it is working.”

It is not the first time Devine is playing in the Championship, as during the 2023/24 season he joined Plymouth Argyle on loan in the second part of the campaign and played a crucial role in fighting off the relegation threat for the Pilgrims.

Devine is highly rated at Spurs and he will be keen on having an impressive season with Heckingbottom’s side to get into Tottenham’s first-team plans.