Mason Melia: The Irish striker Spurs have signed but who can't play until 2026

In the race to sign Mason Melia, Tottenham Hotspur faced stiff competition from elite clubs across Europe and the Premier League.

They had lost out to Manchester City and Chelsea when trying to seal deals in the past, but Spurs recent reputation for offering opportunities to young players swung the odds in their favour.

Advertisement Since Ange Postecoglou took charge of Spurs last summer, he has emphasised youth.

France Under-21 international Mathys Tel, who swapped Bayern Munich for north London on deadline day , is one of several emerging talents attracted by the clear pathway for emerging stars at Tottenham compared to clubs with a more decorated recent history.

Postecoglous willingness to trust inexperienced players was among the primary reasons Melia, 17, chose Spurs.

The initial package of 2million (1.6m; $2.1m), potentially rising with add-ons, agreed with St Patricks Athletic is a record transfer for the League of Ireland, a landmark for a division that has historically lost high-potential talent for a fraction of their future value.

However, despite all parties being happy with the deal, Melia cannot join his new team-mates until next year.

Adult citizens of the UK and Ireland do not need a work permit to secure employment in either nation but it is slightly more complicated for under-18s.

The UKs exit from the European Union, finalised in 2020, changed overseas recruitment law, meaning players from the Republic of Ireland who are not eligible for a British passport must be 18 before they can sign for an English club.

This has led to some of Irelands brightest talent opting for teams in the EU instead.

GO DEEPER 'Theyre looking in places they werent before' - How Brexit has affected academy recruitment Bohemians youth product Kevin Zefi was among the most high-profile to leave Ireland for mainland Europe, signing for Inter Milan in 2021 after becoming the League of Irelands youngest scorer at 15 a record that now belongs to Melia, who has scored nine further goals for St Patricks across 54 senior appearances in all competitions.

Clubs on the continent expressed considerable interest in Melia, which could have resulted in an earlier move for him.

Some made sales pitches that mentioned first-team football almost immediately, but Melia, who earned his first call-up to Irelands under-21 side in October, a month after his 17th birthday, had his heart set on the Premier League.

His journey started at age five at Newtown Juniors, a community football club in Newtownmountkennedy, a small town in County Wicklow around a 90-minute drive from Dublin.

Its a club that his family has been connected with for generations.

His grandfather, Patsy Clarke, is often seen providing a lick of paint around the clubhouse and goalposts at the Matt Kelly ground.

Clive Clarke, his uncle, also played for Newtown before playing for Stoke City, then West Ham United and Sunderland in the Premier League, and winning two international caps for the Republic of Ireland.

Mason played with us here for about four or five years, says Newtown club secretary Hughie Nolan.

He often played a year or two above, but he didnt look out of place.

He had no problem going deep, picking up the ball, taking up the sideline, beating three or four players and sticking it in the top corner.

Mason would score five or six goals, but the team would lose seven.

That was the kind of team he played on.

Advertisement Melia received the clubs prestigious Darren Magee Cup when he was 10, typically awarded to longstanding staff members who, in Nolans words, have done tremendous things for the club.

In Masons case, he won for the tremendous things they believed he was destined for.

Nolan remembers someone coming up to him that day saying hed be the next Roy Keane , a statement he was keen to brush off.

Quietly, he believed if everything went Melias way he was always going to make it to the top.

Shortly after, he was picked up by Bray Wanderers, a second-tier side based just outside Dublin.

Hes a very confident young man, says Brays under-17s manager Conor Canavan.

He captained our team at Bray, and I dont think I ever even told him he was captain.

In his first game, he took the armband and put it on.

Nobody ever questioned it, which showed how he was viewed within the group.

He was one of the younger players, too.

Hes confident.

He has that Im good attitude.

He didnt rely on his talent hed always push himself and train hard.

And he got on really well with everyone he always wanted to be everyones friend.

Even some players I work with now who didnt even play with Mason speak highly of how he was.

He was very funny some things hed come out with...

He was mature and serious but had a real dry sense of humour, even from 12 or 13.

His celebrations, hed have some bizarre ones.

Little dances and stuff.

A moment of brilliance from Mason Melia Ireland go direct and Mason takes matters into his own hands to equalise for our MU19s against Slovenia #COYBIG | #IRLU19 pic.twitter.com/Pp84v67Qhc Ireland Football (@IrelandFootball) September 10, 2024 Melia played for Bray for two years between under-12 and under-14, and Canavan remembers a striker who elevated his team in several ways.

Aside from his athleticism and finishing ability, his work rate was the on-pitch quality that sticks out to his former coach.

Melia set the agenda for his team-mates by pressing from the front and running in behind, causing havoc for the opposition defence with and without the ball.

Advertisement Its hard (to predict the future of a player) when theyre 13, but Mason always gave us a chance, says Canavan.

Bray arent one of the bigger clubs the big ones are St Patricks or Shamrock Rovers in our league but wed always have a chance with Mason.

He was always a threat, no matter who we played with.

We played in a quarter-final against a team from Limerick that wed never played before.

I knew they were good.

We probably would have been even if not for Mason, but he was outstanding and scored a hat-trick.

He missed the semi-final because thats when he went over to Spurs for the first time.

With scouts from Irelands bigger clubs present at every match, it was only a matter of time before Melia left Bray to take another step in his development.

To realise his potential, he would have to increase his contact hours with coaches on the training ground and that was not possible at Bray, a semi-professional outfit where the senior team trains three times a week.

There was always interest in Mason from the bigger Irish clubs at the end of the season, and even in mid-season, we would get word that one of the bigger clubs were looking at trying to take him, says Canavan.

To get to the level he got to, he needed those extra contact hours.

He probably made the move at the right time.

He joined St Patricks as an under-15 player in the summer of 2022 and within six months, he was drafted into the senior side for a Leinster Senior Cup fixture against Wexford FC.

The natural No 9 debuted from the bench in the 63rd minute, becoming the clubs youngest player at 15 years and 132 days old.

Thirty minutes later, he became the clubs youngest scorer with a consolation goal in a 3-1 defeat (embedded below).

He has continued to smash records since.

In June 2023, he came off the bench to score in a 7-0 win against University College Dublin, taking Zefis title as the League of Irelands youngest scorer.

Later that summer, Melia went on trial at Manchester City.

Within a year, he had become the youngest player to play in an FAI Cup final, beating Bohemians 3-1, and was a fully fledged member of the first team and Irelands age-group sides.

Interest from clubs in the UK and beyond increased.

Everton were in pole position to sign the 6ft 3in (190cm) forward in the summer of 2024, but failed to agree with the club and his representatives.

According to sources with knowledge of the process, granted anonymity to protect relationships, Spurs, Manchester City and Chelsea were also in close pursuit.

Advertisement As he continued to write his name in Irish football history, becoming the youngest player to win the Professional Footballers Association of Irelands Young Player of the Year award in November a month after earning his first call-up to represent Ireland Under-21s, St Patricks asking price increased to over 1million, a milestone for the league.

Spurs invited him to watch their 4-3 defeat against Chelsea at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in December before the January window, where he watched Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall, both 18 at the time, earn minutes from the bench.

After a conversation with Postecoglou, Melia signed a deal that will run until 2031.

He has been placed under a bespoke conditioning programme from Spurs, which he will carry out at St Patricks, and there may be opportunities for him to come to the UK and train with his new team-mates before he officially joins up after 1 January 2026.

Until then, former Republic of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny , now manager at St Patricks, has created an environment where he can flourish.

GO DEEPER From 'club signing' to undroppable, how Djed Spence turned his Spurs career around (Top photo: Mason Melia by Piaras O Midheach/Sportsfile via Getty Images).

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