Alan Hansen once said, “You’ll never win anything with kids” which, to an extent is right. But, in Tottenham’s case, it may be very wrong. After foreign imports have failed to prove themselves worthy of a place in the first team, players from within the youth academy have deservedly replaced them. There’s a time and a place to utilise younger players, but for Spurs that time has already come. For future success, the club must continue to produce and make use of homegrown, youth academy players.
For example, Harry Kane. He really made a name for himself at the under-21 youth team at Spurs and has progressed to replicating this with the first team. In the Europa League, Kane has been brilliant. The Premier League is yet to fully experience the terror that Kane can cause. He may not be the quickest, but he can finish like any top class striker, some might say better than Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado put together. An excellent addition made to the squad using the youth system.
But, it doesn’t stop there. Take Nabil Bentaleb (who’s recently been injured) who broke into the first team last season under Tim Sherwood. His quality has shown too. It’s very important that Pochettino carries on providing Bentaleb with game time to get the best out of him. Also, another notable example is Ryan Mason, from the very same youth academy who has recently broken through. Not to mention Andros Townsend, whose progress may have stalled recently, but has already become part of the England national team set up.
These players all make a difference. Passion, desire, commitment. Three valuable commodities. Getting into the first team after being developed at a youth academy provides the Spurs players with better mindsets. Kane, Mason, Townsend, they all will do their best over 90 minutes. This is because they really want to prove their worth. Forget the multi-million expensive signings who are almost untouchable nowadays. To win a match, skill and experience are vital, yes. But, if players aren’t playing because they love the club, love the fans, love the shirt, it renders all other factors as useless. A professional attitude is important, but a player needs to inject a bit of heart into their performances too.
Spurs have one of the highest amounts of non-British players in the Premier League. Hardly surprising, as Tottenham are one of the richer clubs in the league and can afford to bring players from abroad in. But, is money spent on players from abroad damaging Spurs? Would it just be better to concentrate more on the youth players? Let’s take Southampton for example. They’ve produced Gareth Bale, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott. Don’t forget they also developed Alan Shearer and Matthew Le Tissier. These players may no longer be playing for Southampton, but the success these players have brought them in different ways has helped them as a club. Bale may not have scored 35 yard screamers for Southampton, but the money that Bale brought the club helped them instead. Look at the Premier League table. Second place. Now that is much better than where Spurs are now without Bale.
Spurs are producing some good players. It really helps that Pochettino has carried on the work that Sherwood kick-started. Pochettino must continue to give his younger players a chance. At the current point, it’s clear that not many first team positions on that pitch are set in stone. Let the younger players force the more experienced ones into putting in more consistent performances. Harry Kane has certainly given Soldado and Adebayor runs for their money. Quite literally, too. Mason has put in many good shifts. Now, this doesn’t mean Spurs should suddenly swap all first team players for the under 21’s, but it means gradually integrate the younger players into the first team. Take chances. Pochettino really put his neck on the line for Mason, but it has really paid off.
It’s an ongoing project. Young players make mistakes. But, in the long run, it may well just give Spurs some glory, to relight the trophy room torches which have been dwindling for too long.
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