Andros Townsend impresses for Tottenham Under-21s amid transfer speculation

Tottenham Hotspur winger Andros Townsend thrust himself firmly in the January transfer shop window with another impressive display in the Under-21 defeat to Manchester United.

The 24-year-old made his fourth consecutive appearance for Spurs' second string in the 3-1 loss at Leigh Sports Village, but did set up Joe Pritchard's goal 13 minutes from time to alert a string of reported suitors.

The Daily Mail understands that Aston Villa, Newcastle United, Southampton, Sunderland and Watford are all interested in signing the England international during the current window either on loan or on a permanent deal. Townsend has not played for the north London club since October, since falling out with club trainer Nathan Gardiner.

Townsend was left out of the Tottenham squad for the Premier League draw with Everton at Goodison Park and his continued marginalisation during the busy festive and New Year schedule has made his departure almost inevitable. The ex-Queens Park Rangers loanee was one of the few players to emerge with any credit from the loss to United, which produced a scathing response from coach Ugo Ehiogu.

"It's a bitter pill to swallow, a lot of the players just didn't turn up and that's unusual for this team," he told Tottenham's official website. "There were a low of below-par performances and that's frustrating and disappointing – disappointing because we've been on a good run but stopped doing the things that we've been doing over the last seven or eight games.

"You can have a bad game – we've always said that – but you still have to show enough of your identity and work ethic. We had a rally at 2-1, the substitutes came on and gave us that impact, but generally it's a missed opportunity.

"Joe [Pritchard, making his second Tottenham appearance since suffering a broken leg] has had to be patient, a lot of questions have been asked of him but he always comes in with a smile, is always positive and it's really pleasing for him," added Ugo. "It's just a shame we couldn't capitalise further on his goal.

"We now have a massive game against Chelsea, live on Sky. It's always a competitive game. We'll get back on the training pitch, get this game out of our system, have a look at where it went wrong. The players have always responded well to adversity, so that's the process. That's football."