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The Academy: Spurs youth focus set to help stadium transition
Tottenham one won and lost one in the Audi Cup last week and the two games illustrated the two-tiered youth approach that can help the north London club ride out the estimated £400m cost of building their new stadium.
Dele Alli’s audacious nutmeg on former White Hart Lane favourite Luka Modric capped off a fine display against Real Madrid that suggests the initial fee of £5m could be the steal of the summer, while academy products Harry Kane, Danny Rose and Nabil Bentaleb also lined up in Germany.
Rookie goalkeeper Luke McGee featured along with England youth regulars Harry Winks and Josh Onomah as manager Mauricio Pochettino looks inside the club for players to adapt to his high-tempo pressing game.
This season has the feel of a hugely important one for former Saints boss Pochettino and chairman Daniel Levy now the green light for the stadium has finally been given.
Levy has performed miracles, if you speak to most Spurs fans, in offloading underperforming squad regulars Paulinho, Lewis Holtby, Etienne Capoue, Younes Kaboul, Benjamin Stambouli and Vlad Chiriches for sizeable sums.
He knows full well now that he must sanction big money striker moves for the likes of West Brom’s Saido Berahino before the end of the transfer window should Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado be sold as expected.
However, he is also aware that his academy is the envy of the Premier League currently and could help cushion the blow of the stadium investment.
It has strong echoes of Arsenal’s switch from Highbury to the Emirates, when Arsene Wenger had to harness the power of his academy in an effort to offset stadium costs.
Wenger was never under massive pressure to bring through players instead of purchasing them, if you speak to Arsenal insiders, nevertheless he did lean on the youth set-up to help bolster his squad.
Defender Kieran Gibbs and midfielder Jack Wilshere were fast tracked into the first team, which helped avoid big transfer fees for more established talent that could have put the Gunners in title contention.
Looking further down the line, Hector Bellerin is a prime example of the fruits of that sound academy system in the red half of north London.
Brought over from Barca at a young age in the same vein as former Gunners great Cesc Fabregas, his performances at right-back have saved Wenger millions even though the wily Frenchman is now free to spend whatever he wants according to club directors.
Kane’s meteoric rise last season was a surprise to many fans at White Hart Lane and the Championship clubs where he had learned his trade on loan.
Clearly sound in the striker fundamentals, he lacked that X Factor that could unlock Premier League defences.
Academy Manager & Head of Coaching John McDermott and development coaches such as former England international Ugo Ehiogu kept faith, though, and he buckled down last summer to add brawn and pace to his game.
When he was eventually given a proper run of league games in November, he showed his true promise with an avalanche of goals that means England now have a centre-forward that can see them through Euro 2016 and beyond.
It was Bentaleb’s similarly rapid rise, though, that set the template for the new generation the previous season after Rose had flirted with a regular first-team place since his league debut wonder goal in the 2-1 victory over rivals Arsenal in April 2010.
The Algerian was plucked from relative academy obscurity by then boss Tim Sherwood to anchor the midfield in the back end of the 2013/2014 season, something he did so well that he travelled to the 2014 World Cup with Algeria where he also shined.
Ryan Mason’s increasing importance alongside Bentaleb in the heart of the Spurs midfield has also saved Levy millions, the England international putting his own strong case to Roy Hodgson for a possible starting berth next summer.
With the new stadium estimated to cost £400m as part of the Northumberland Development Project and set to host high-profile NFL London games too, what of the new batch of talented youngsters?
Pochettino can call upon a World champion if he wants this season after Serbian Miloš Veljković helped his country to the U20 title in New Zealand over the summer.
Veljković played mainly as a centre-back in his loan stints at Middlesbrough and Charlton, however it appears the smooth passer is more confident in the deep lying midfield position occupied currently by Bentaleb.
Centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers also received rave reviews during the U20 World Cup for his stellar USA displays, comparisons to Lane legend Ledley King ensuring he can break through soon as well given the opportunity.
Australian keeper Tom Glover, left-back Connor Ogilvie, right-back Kyle Walker-Peters, winger Nathan Oduwa and attacking midfielders Cy Goddard, Ismail Azzaoui and Marcus Edwards together with strikers Shaq Coulthirst and Shayon Harrison have also been earmarked for stardom alongside the more established McGee, Winks and Onomah.
It is Alex Pritchard, though, who remains in the box seat to progress next in the first team after his scintillating Brentford loan spell last season nearly helped them achieve a fairytale promotion into the Premier League.
Pritchard first made his name with four goals in the 2011–12 NextGen Series that alerted Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona to the diminutive playmaker’s outrageous talent.
A nomination for the League One Player of the Year soon followed in a loan spell at Swindon before winning a place in the Championship PFA Team of the Year at Griffin Park on the back of his bevy of assists and crucial goals.
England U21s missed his creativity badly this past summer when he damaged his ankle ligaments in the group phase after impressing off the bench in the first game against Portugal and starting the second against eventual champions Sweden.
His recent form looks like pushing Tom Carroll, another academy graduate, down the midfield pecking order. Despite impressing in bursts for Swansea on loan last season, you get the feeling Carroll may move on soon.
Whatever Argentine Pochettino decides this season, he is more blessed than most in the top flight when it comes to blooding precocious youngsters with Tottenham’s rivals glancing green-eyed at the conveyor belt of talent.
Combined with new head of recruitment Paul Mitchell - the man responsible for Alli’s move from MK Dons - Spurs are set fair for the stadium transition years.
Whether it will result in any trophies to assuage the loyal Lilywhite fans this season is another matter, but it could well give them a solid platform to genuinely challenge for the title once they have moved home.
First of my weekly academy columns for Yahoo Sport UK.
