Who is record-breaking Spurs signing Mason Melia?

Mason Melia may not have been the name on the radar for football fans this transfer deadline day, but his £1.6m signing for Tottenham on Tuesday has definitely got people talking.

Though an unknown in England, the fee that Spurs will pay to sign the teenager from St Patrick's Athletic is already a record for a League of Ireland player, and could even rise to £3.2m in add-ons.

After making his debut as a 15-year-old, Melia has featured more than 50 times in senior football in the Republic of Ireland and scored 10 goals already, courting interest from some of Europe's biggest clubs with the north London giants getting the deal over the line.

Spurs fans will have to wait until January 2026 to see the 17-year-old in their jersey, but his talent in Ireland is already widely known and footballing pedigree runs in the family.

His father Martin was a renowned footballer locally in their native Wicklow while former Republic of Ireland international Clive Clarke, who played more than 200 league games for Stoke City, is his uncle and agent.

Melia, the next footballer to come from the family's production line, caught the eye of coaches and scouts from a young age, scoring "four of five goals" per game growing up in Wicklow.

"I saw at an early age that Mason would go straight to the top through his sheer love of football," Hughie Nolan, one of his first coaches at Newtown Juniors who also worked with Clarke and Melia senior, told BBC Sport.

"I knew he would be good, people always talk about the next Roy Keane or Robbie Keane and usually I don't see it, but I knew he would be good - but maybe not this good.

"Every time he has stepped up a level, he has taken it in his stride and nothing has fazed him."

The deal that takes Melia to the Premier League is a record transfer for a player leaving the island of Ireland, but it's not only his current club St Pat's that will benefit from the potential multi-million pound deal.

Second-tier Bray Wanderers, for whom he played between under-12s and under-14s level, will receive 5% of the transfer fee - worth £80,000 - and St Joseph's, who had him for a single season, will receive 2% of the fee worth £32,000.

"This fee sets the standard for Irish players now," his former coach at Wanderers Conor Canavan explained.

"The industry in Ireland still needs to develop and is in its infancy. This little injection, whatever the percentage, will be huge for us."

On Melia the footballer, Canavan remembers his arrival at the club just after the Covid pandemic looking "sharper than ever", recalling that "defenders couldn't cope with him" despite his tender age of 13.

"Around the box, he is just a natural finisher, and any type of finish was really good. There was one game against UCD where he scored a hat-trick in the first half and the goals were all quite different," Canavan told BBC Sport.

"When he made his debut for St Pat's, he put senior centre-backs under serious pressure while only 15 years old. His energy levels are unbelievable and his work off the ball was nearly better than what he did on the ball."

The Wicklow native's arrival in senior football with south Dublin side St Pat's attracted early attention from clubs across Europe.

After helping his side win the FAI Cup in 2023, he featured in Champions League qualifiers last summer as well as being named Young Footballer of the Year in Ireland - the youngest ever recipient of that award at 17.

Sources with knowledge of the negotiations explained to BBC Sport that Everton were in pole position to sign Melia for many months, but the slow pace of discussions and rival interest saw costs rise.

Interest in the 6ft 2in striker grew and those factors allowed St Pat's to gradually increase his price tag, while Everton, undergoing an ownership change and battling relegation, are said to have switched focus elsewhere.

Competition for his signature saw Chelsea, Manchester City, Celtic, Genk, Bologna and Eintracht Frankfurt all battle with Spurs to seal the deal.

German side Frankfurt even offered Melia a chance to replace Omar Marmoush in January as he left for Manchester City, taking advantage of EU regulations which allow players from the Republic of Ireland to move before their 18th birthday.

However, it was a conversation with Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou and a chance to play in the Premier League - like his uncle and agent Clive Clarke - that saw Melia choose north London.

Unfortunately, the one club in Melia's journey that won't benefit are his first and local team Newtown Juniors.

"He was with us for six years so I never can understand why smaller clubs are not recognised - the system needs to be looked at," Nolan explained to BBC Sport.

"I am happy for Mason and his family, they deserve the success. I've seen the work they've put in, his mother has been on the road day and night driving between Wicklow and both Bray and Dublin, they all deserve it."

Melia now focuses on pre-season ahead of the 2025 season in the League of Ireland before joining Spurs on a five-year deal from 1 January 2026.