Academy Successes - Best in the Country?

[SpursLegend]

Anyone who follows the academy knows that the lads coming through now in the 16 - 19 age group are something special.

Potentially between 6 - 10 Premier League players in those 3 year groups in my opinion, with 2 or 3 of those almost nailed on.

Carter-Vickers, Onomah, Veljkovic, Walker-Peters, Azzaoui, Winks, Oduwa, Ogilvie, Edwards, Georgiou, Maghoma.

All of those have the potential to play at the top level if they keep developing how they are currently, and keep their attitude up.

 

[Tomo]

Saved our arse this season, imagine this campaign without Kane and Mason.

 

[Dannyboy]

The club have spent over £45m in training facilities and appropriate staff in order to accommodate our youth team - and to eradicate our pathetic history of bringing through genuine, class players.

Is it the best yet? I think Southampton have something to say about that, and watch out for Man City, too.

It's not about being the best, though, it's about being relevant, and for too many years our youth set up was farcical.

 

[Tomo]

Southampton is streets ahead, just off the top of my head...

Bale
Walcott
Oxlade-Chamberlaine
Lallana
Shaw
Ward-Prowse
Wayne Bridge

And West Hams is pretty decent

Defoe
Joe Cole
Lampard
Carrick
Rio Ferdinand
Tomkins
Noble
Glenn Johnson

I think the thread is refering to recent success, West Ham haven't produced anyone for years.

 

[JDK]

Pochettino is our first non-interim head coach to take the academy seriously. Instead of throwing his toys out of the pram regarding transfers like Redknapp and AVB, Pochettino has dealt with the reality that Levy is a tight fisted bastard and made the best of the situation. Pochettino is a true professional.

The playing style in the youth teams was converted to 4-3-3 at all levels when Moniz was here if I remember Windy's article correctly. It has been impressive that we've remained committed to it that long considering we are Spurs. John McDermott is another name that deserves a shout out, been heading up the academy for years.

 

[SpursLegend]

Heard good things about Azzaoui but know little of him myself. Can you shed some light?

Belgian winger we took from Anderlecht, just turned 17. First played for us in a tournament in Dusseldorf just under a year ago and really impressed me then. Very capable of taking on a man, and almost always tries to. First time I saw him he clearly had talent but needed to know when to release, and work on that final ball. He's now developing that and seems to score almost every game for the U18s (5 in 3 in the FA Youth Cup).

 

[VirginiaSpur]

And West Hams is pretty decent

Defoe
Joe Cole
Lampard
Carrick
Rio Ferdinand
Tomkins
Noble
Glenn Johnson

I'm more interested in what their academy is doing now, not what they produced 20 years ago.

 

[Belgian Spur]

Heard good things about Azzaoui but know little of him myself. Can you shed some light?

From the little i have seen and heard over here in Belgium , he's a younger - faster version of Hazard but without the physical strenght that Hazard has. loves to take on players, very unpredictable but needs to learn to play in and for a team.

Him, Tielemans, the Musonda kid from Chelsea and another one that is in italy at the moment are said to be Belgium's next golden generation. Seen some of them play for the NT youth teams and they were just OTT good.

 

[Tomo]

Probably, yes. That isn't to say for sure they will become better in a few years, there is a lot of development left, but I will be disappointed if none of them become first team regulars at Spurs. Disappointed and very surprised.

Almost makes the point of clearing the deadwood at the lane like paulinho more important so we can give a chance to the next lot.

 

[JDK]

There isn't a top ten side in the league that is more reliant on academy players than we are. No one even close really. Ultimately it is between us in Southampton for best current academy, we have more academy players in our team now than they do but obviously they sold off three quality ones this summer.

It has been said over and over but it is crazy that those who follow it closely say that our current generation of academy boys is better than they've ever seen. Obviously they won't all be Harry Kanes as he's improved greatly since joining our first team but if we can get another crop of players at the level of Mason, Bentaleb, etc. that would be immense.

 

[Boltonspur]

Kind of a mix up of threads here (with the transfer window threads) so I'm sorry if it comes across a bit hotch potch.
Would have loved to have seen a top quality striker last summer (& in January, but by then only a back up to Sir Harry)- but then how likely would Kane's meteoric rise to prominence have been? Not very, at a guess. So in a way, using the academy lads & integrating them has got the fans very vocal & enthusiastic again- something that has been missing for quite a while now. IF there are more high grade lads coming through, as people on here who go to the Youth games are confident there will be (& the people who watch are best placed to call this) then maybe, just maybe a lot of people (myself included) should be a little more patient & a little less disappointed at our "zero net spend". I totally think that everyone has seen enough of Poch already to say he can be trusted to get things as right as humanly possible & should be backed by the board if he identifies the player(s) he wants to either replace with better, or supplement what he already has. At the start of the season, our youngsters weren't very highly fancied to do well. But they have proven everyone wrong with some truly memorable performances. Of course they will get tired with our schedule & will have off days, but even when they do (like last night) they are capable of running liverpool very close on their own patch- something only 7 Spurs teams have managed to better in our entire history! I do think we need some experienced heads in that team (hence why I think Soldado has been retained) but if the academy keeps producing talent like this then the days of the team of expensive foreign imports (with all the associated risks) may be a thing of the past. A team "full of our own" competing at the highest level would be a thing of pure joy.

 

[Eskimo]

I said he deserves a mention - same as Comolli. Poor trolling, mate - 2/10. Must try harder

He deserves a mention like Fred West deserves a mention in the Beginners guide to Plastering.

 

[Juicy Sushi]

Tactics Tim, Chris Ramsey and Les Ferdinand definitely deserve some of the credit, along with those currently running the program. They have given us a pool of talented young footballers, regardless of anything else. It seems like most of them will go on to have solid professional careers, even if not all with us.

As a % of our first team, it's good, but not great, but I think by next year we'll see an even bigger influence.

 

[VirginiaSpur]

As a % of our first team, it's good, but not great

Mate, it's fucking incredible. Bentaleb joined us at 17 after being turned away by several other clubs, so I'd include him in that list without hesitation.

To be playing in the upper reach of the Premier League and chasing a CL berth with 3 academy products nailed-on starters and others waiting in the wings is pretty unusual.

In terms of academy production I think we're leading the league at the moment along with Southampton on a par.

 

[SpursLegend]

SpursLegend WindyCOYS I trust you too implicitly when it comes to our youth setup, so I was wondering, which of our current crop of U18's and U21's you would put your house on having an impact for the first team.

From what I have seen, the dead certs would be Onomah and CCV. I would love to say the same of KWP but worry that his size might hold him back.

That bolded list sums up my views. It's impossible to put them in an order, especially given the variety of ages. But the first two I am extremely confident about (reckon we'll see Carter-Vickers on the first team bench in next year's Europa League group stages if we qualify), the rest depends on how they develop which is obviously very hard to tell.

Anyone who follows the academy knows that the lads coming through now in the 16 - 19 age group are something special.
Potentially between 6 - 10 Premier League players in those 3 year groups in my opinion, with 2 or 3 of those almost nailed on.
Carter-Vickers, Onomah, Veljkovic, Walker-Peters, Azzaoui, Winks, Oduwa, Ogilvie, Edwards, Georgiou, Maghoma.
All of those have the potential to play at the top level if they keep developing how they are currently, and keep their attitude up.

In recent months, Georgiou has really come in to his own - him and Azzaoui are both hugely impressive.

Edwards is technically the best U16 player I've seen at Spurs, but it's always hard to predict at that age. He also makes Luka Modric look like George Elokobi, so could do with a bit of luck with his body growing!

 

[WindyCOYS]

SpursLegend WindyCOYS I trust you too implicitly when it comes to our youth setup, so I was wondering, which of our current crop of U18's and U21's you would put your house on having an impact for the first team.

From what I have seen, the dead certs would be Onomah and CCV. I would love to say the same of KWP but worry that his size might hold him back.

Depends what you mean by 'an impact'. There are so many of them that I really think can be squad members for us. In terms of regular first-teamers I think Onomah, Carter-Vickers and Walker-Peters can make it.

Honestly, I could list another 10 that have a chance of making 10+ appearances. I still think Ogilvie, Oduwa and Winks can play for us too, even though all three have gone a bit quiet - due to injuries, lack of competitive games, etc.

I don't want to rave about Edwards too much as he's only played a handful of Under-18 games, but he looks an unbelievable prospect.

 

[LarryCatt]

Mason, Townsend, Livermore - all Enfield boys
Kane - Chingford
Little Tommy Carroll - Watford
Caulker - Hounslow

All playing regularly in the Premier League all relatively local boys too.

Add in Bentaleb and Rose (bought in but still played in the development sides) and it must be the most productive top level academy in the Premier League?

Who do we attribute this crop to? Inglethorpe? McDermott? Ramsey? Even Temporary Timmy? And why now? What's changed from the days of Marney and Jackson?

Whoever - long may it continue....

 

[ArcspacE]

AVB and Comolli both had quite the input as well - worth a mention

 

[JDK]

Care to elaborate on that?

The guy is still freaking about transfers even having been fired a year ago. Still complaining about how he didn't get Leandeo Damaio. Some actually decent journos like Greg Stobart have said he was very difficult behind the scenes regarding transfers. Always trying to buy Hulk for 40m which is the height of unrealistic.

Levy is a tight bastard but any coach taking the job has to realize that's how it going to be. Pochettino has got on with his job and used the academy to great effectiveness to deal with deficiencies. He didn't complain about not getting Schneiderlin, he has tried to build Ryan Mason into that same role. We've never had a coach like that.

 

[JDK]

Where is he freaking out - do you have some links?

Alternative conspiracy theory might also suggest Poch has received instructions from upper ENIC layers to play youngsters in order to raise their stock for a massive profit in the summer

Spoiler

the above is a joke btw

"The chairman proposed a challenge to increase Tottenham's competitive level, but immediately [Luka] Modric left and we didn't get any of the targets I had identified, such as Joao Moutinho, Willian, Oscar or Leandro Damiao," Villas-Boas said in an interview with TVI.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...Tottenham-Chelsea-Oscar-Willian-transfer-news

Spurs statement refuting those claims
http://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnatio.../tottenham-hotspur-andre-villas-boas-comments