Josh Onomah: ‘Tottenham will always be in my heart, but Fulham feels like home now’

Exclusive interview: Ahead of Fulham's FA Cup tie at Manchester City on Sunday, the former Spurs academy standout reflects on leaving his boyhood club after 14 years and his new opportunity in west London

Josh Onomah: ‘I’ve learnt and dealt with a lot over the past two years’ (Rex)

Josh Onomah fiddles at the cast protecting his left hand and laughs off the pain. “It’s broken,” he says, lifting the arm in the air like a trophy. Once the most electrifying talent in Tottenham’s academy, the five years since making his debut have numbed him to most of football’s wear and tear. But fleetingly, as Onomah details leaving his boyhood club, a genuine hint of discomfort sticks in his voice.

“I was there since I was eight years old,” he says after a slight pause. “Tottenham was my life, my future, and I developed a love for them that will always be in my heart. But that’s football for you. Not everything goes to plan. In life, you take a few steps back just to come forward. You have to come out of the bubble and I’ve needed that in my career. Sometimes that’s what being a man is, deciding the right thing for you, [even if it’s] to leave your home.”

After 14 years at Tottenham, the memories are still a little raw. But “Fulham feels like home now,” he says, relaxing back into his chair at the training ground ahead of their FA Cup tie at Manchester City on Sunday. The manager, Scott Parker, and his assistant, Matt Wells, were Onomah’s under-18s coaches and had both been pivotal in nurturing the talent which propelled him into the spotlight. ​

A slick central midfielder, Onomah was just 17 when he made his senior debut under Mauricio Pochettino. Within the next year, he’d started in the Champions League, scored at White Hart Lane, and was seen by several coaches at the club as potentially having a higher ceiling than Harry Winks.

He can’t pinpoint an exact moment where that momentum seemed to flatline. Partly, it was due to playing out of position, his opportunities largely coming in snippets on the right wing. But Onomah doesn’t shy away from the fact that his own frustration and occasional lack of motivation was largely responsible.

“I wouldn’t say I took it for granted but I wasn’t 100 per cent focused on football growing up, around the age of 18-20,” he says. "[It wasn’t until I got injured] that I realised how important it is in my life. I don’t think it’s healthy to live with regret [about it]. You have to learn from your mistakes. That’s what helped shape me as a player and a person.

“Mauricio Pochettino had a big influence on me. He always pushed me, he gave me the advice I needed to make it at Tottenham, and he gave me my debut which I’ll forever be thankful for. That was always my dream. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out and I felt like I needed games to show what I’m good at and grow as a player.”

At a time when the club operated under a strict policy of keeping its best prospects in-house, pushing to go on loan ultimately spelt the beginning of the end of Onomah’s time at Tottenham. Thrust into the sweat and grit of the Championship at Aston Villa, he offered snapshots of the individual brilliance seen at youth level, but as the season progressed he couldn’t maintain his grip. Still only 20, he had a youthful confidence, but after arriving from a big club and being “expected to perform every week, when it didn’t work out it was tough to take”.

Josh Onomah made 32 senior appearances for Tottenham (Getty)

The irony doesn’t escape Onomah as he recalls losing in the play-off final to Fulham that year. “That was quite an emotional time for me,” he says. “We worked so hard that season and fell short at the last hurdle. It was definitely one of the hardest things to take.”

The toughest, though, was a loan at Sheffield Wednesday the following season. Dogged by injuries, and then publicly by his own manager, Onomah’s star was prematurely fading and the hardened exterior he’d forcibly developed at Villa began to show cracks.

“I feel like I’ve learnt and dealt with a lot over the past two years,” he says. “It’s been hard but, fortunately, I’ve had good people around me who kept encouraging me. That was a huge factor in terms of not crumbling or falling down. In a way, I’m thankful for the injuries because they made me realise how much I love football. You go through ups and downs and it’s how you deal with it, that’s what matters.”

It’s been a gradual process to rebuild that confidence at Fulham. Onomah missed another pre-season, stuck in limbo as the two clubs negotiated a fee which would see Ryan Sessegnon move in the other direction, and Parker made sure not to risk any setbacks by rushing him into the starting line-up. “His influence has been very important,” Onomah says. “When you have a coach like that, you can put all your trust into him.”

For Fulham’s supporters, it wasn’t until his winner ended Leeds’s 11-game unbeaten run last month that the curtain was lifted on Onomah’s arrival. To him, though, that first goal in two years finally brought closure on a chapter where dreams have fallen away and been pieced back together. “When the ball hit the back of the net, I sort of froze,” he laughs. “I didn’t know what to do at first.”

“The gaffer and coaching staff have helped kick-start my career,” he says, having now started eight of the last 10 games. “I had quite a slow start but that goal was really significant for my confidence. I’ve got to take the opportunity now. I want to show everyone what I’m best at, how I’ve grown as a player, that I’m comfortable at Premier League level. Now I’ve got to earn that.”