Spurs Youth Thread 20/21

[coy-spurs1882]

tbh our youth has been disappointing in recent years, especially considering that we have invested so much on the facilities to make it one of the best in the world. John McDermott leaving hurts us so much and imo our youth is way behind the scum, let alone Citeh or Chelski

 

[mark87]

So we're signing the next Pat Jennings? Excellent.

 

[BoringOldFan]

I'm not really surprised about J'Neil Bennett being released. He really hasn't progressed all that much. Oluwayemi isn't getting any younger and is a long way short of being in contention for a first team spot. Omole is a bit disappointing but apparently he was offered a new deal and turned it down, which is fair enough. He may well have a decent offer from somewhere else where he can get first team football. Lo-Tutala is the big shock but like Omole I reckon he's been offered an opportunity that he couldn't refuse. We've definitely slimmed down the U23s significantly. It can only mean that we're taking a different approach going forward.

Maybe not a surprise, but I’m a bit disappointed that Bennett couldn’t kick on. I saw him a couple of times when the Academy side played at NWHL this season, and thought he had a lot of ability. Although to quote the trainer in the film Seabiscuit when asked about the horse, said “He’s fast… in every direction”.

That said, 15 years ago I remember watching David Hutton and thinking “He’ll be better than Aaron Lennon!”

 

[Spurzinho]

Maybe not a surprise, but I’m a bit disappointed that Bennett couldn’t kick on. I saw him a couple of times when the Academy side played at NWHL this season, and thought he had a lot of ability. Although to quote the trainer in the film Seabiscuit when asked about the horse, said “He’s fast… in every direction”.

That said, 15 years ago I remember watching David Hutton and thinking “He’ll be better than Aaron Lennon!”

Lol, I remember thinking the same thing about Hutton. I was super impressed. Nippy, low centre of gravity, decent finisher. He impressed me far more than Kenny McEvoy ever did.

I've said this before about Bennett, he was a one trick pony. He hung out on the wing until he got given the ball, then he feigned down the line before skipping inside and running across the box. He'd try and get a shot away from the corner of the D. Every time. That was it. That was literally all he did. It's a neat trick but its very predictable and he really didn't offer anything else to the side defensively or in possession. That's the danger, as a youngster, of having a speciality. You over rely on it and fail to develop the other areas of your game. There's a good story about Morten Gamst Pederson as a kid in Norway. He was talented but didn't stand out. His dad saw the danger so forbade his son from using his natural right foot. Initially he regressed and worried that it would damage his chances but eventually he became so good with his left that he was essentially two footed and had the added bonus of being able to play left wing where there was less competition because there are less left footers around.

 

[Blake Griffin]

tbh our youth has been disappointing in recent years, especially considering that we have invested so much on the facilities to make it one of the best in the world. John McDermott leaving hurts us so much and imo our youth is way behind the scum, let alone Citeh or Chelski

unfortunately i have to agree and even many of our better ones have been brought in from elsewhere rather than being true spurs products(parrott, devine, etete etc). i know this is a serious case of after-timing but i was told by someone pretty reliable probably six months ago that paratici was not impressed at all with the academy and wanted a radical overhaul. the view is that our kids are undersized and overcoached with not enough emphasis placed on physical/athletic qualities and not enough allowance for individual expression, on the flip side our more physically gifted players aren't of the required technical quality.

for all the years i've been following the academy i've never known us to release so many players, many of them even have international recognition so it does seem to tally with the rumoured overhaul. we're falling behind arsenal as you say and this has definitely been noted. obviously we were well aware how far ahead chelsea are but even then we still backed ourselves to bring through comparative quality to them, just not at the same quantity, now we're not really doing either.

 

[BoringOldFan]

@Spurzinho, glad it’s not just me who can’t spot a winner, then ?

Another one I misjudged was Tashan Oakley-Boothe. I saw the Academy side play Dulwich Hamlet (July 2019 iirc) and he ran the show, even against a team of grown men. Scored our goal with a cracking 20-yard drive. I remember thinking he’d be our DM for years to come.

Got sold to Stoke and never heard of again!

 

[Delboy75]

Good to see Mathurin back to fitness hopefully can pick up where he left off.

 

[TheHodFather]

Does anyone know how highly rated this year's intake is? I wonder if the idea is for them to have most of the U18 minutes with the 2021 intake competing more for U23 playing time (and hence we don't need such a big development squad)?

 

[Delboy75]

Does anyone know how highly rated this year's intake is? I wonder if the idea is for them to have most of the U18 minutes with the 2021 intake competing more for U23 playing time (and hence we don't need such a big development squad)?

There’s a few England age group in there and they had a very good U16 season winning most of their games. There’s no league table for U16. But then I had high hopes for this year intake so who knows.

 

[Phil_2.0]

It's not a secret Paratici is upset with the structure of the Youth team, was reported very openly by the local journo boys end of last year and there were job postings for regional scouts up in Yorkshire and North West some months ago. They are going to make a strong emphasis on poaching the 16-20 year olds from other academies, hence why we saw so many released.

 

[Delboy75]

These are the remaining U23/2nd years as far as I’m aware;

U23-
GK- Hayton Maguire
CB- Muir BLF Walcott Paskotsi Sayers
LB - Cesay
RB - Lavinier
CM- Craig Bowden Nile
10/winger ( few could be CM )- Mathurin Yago Robson Mundle Devine
Striker - Scarlett

2nd years
GK-Gunter
CB- Dorrington Andiyapan Waugh
LB- Linton
RB - Mcknight
CM- Abbot kyerematen
10/winger- Heaps Bloxham Owen
Striker- Donley Williams

Some 2nd years are hard to pin down on positions as have moved around.

You’d expect 3 or 4 of U23 to go on loan, but tbh we might not really need to bring that many in. It’s really hard to know without knowing loan situation. I think it’s most likely FB and CM.

 

[Locotoro]

So it seems that what has been said here, by some of those who know more, for the last few months is coming to fruition. Kudos to you folks.

I am curious, for those of you who track Academy Football, what would be the right model for us, as a club to implement?

I find that we are in that strange middle space of not being too good to help develop our own youth with first team game time but not seeming to be able to get good loans or deals with lower League clubs to do the same.

Also, do you folks think that once a player reaches 20/21, if he's not first team that he should be off. In Spain, you rarely see academy products making first team breakthroughs until they are 22 or 23. I wonder if we are falling a step short, either with selling or integrating players because they are being cut too early?

 

[FibreOpticJesus]

So it seems that what has been said here, by some of those who know more, for the last few months is coming to fruition. Kudos to you folks.

I am curious, for those of you who track Academy Football, what would be the right model for us, as a club to implement?

I find that we are in that strange middle space of not being too good to help develop our own youth with first team game time but not seeming to be able to get good loans or deals with lower League clubs to do the same.

Also, do you folks think that once a player reaches 20/21, if he's not first team that he should be off. In Spain, you rarely see academy products making first team breakthroughs until they are 22 or 23. I wonder if we are falling a step short, either with selling or integrating players because they are being cut too early

For me our youth policy should be set up to produce 1 or 2 squad players a season. The rest should be be sold to lower prem or championship teams. We are obviously miles away from achieving that. Our return is lower than Arsenal and probably West Ham, Palace etc.

 

[Spurzinho]

For me our youth policy should be set up to produce 1 or 2 squad players a season. The rest should be be sold to lower prem or championship teams. We are obviously miles away from achieving that. Our return is lower than Arsenal and probably West Ham, Palace etc.

I've been arguing for a while, perhaps a little too often for some peoples liking, that our lax attitude to results at youth level is seeing us produce technically proficient but physically and mentally lacklustre talent.

 

[BoringOldFan]

Non-Kilpatrick Standard article by someone who clearly hasn’t actually watched these players. How Donley playing for the U23s ‘saves millions’ for Conte is beyond me.

The Tottenham wonderkids who could save Antonio Conte millions

As Antonio Conte prepares for his first pre-season in charge of Tottenham, attention has quickly turned to the transfer window.

www.standard.co.uk

 

[eddiebailey]

So by my reckoning this is our current U23 squad; ages are as of 1 Jan 2022, the under 21 cut-off date for UEFA competition.

GK
Maguire, 17 ***
Hayton, 17 ***

RB
Lavinier, 21 **
Cessay, 19 ***

CB
Paskotsi, 18 *****
Muir, 19 ***
Fagan-Walcott, 19 ***

LB
Sayers, 17 *****

DM
Lyons-Foster, 21 *
Bowden, 20 ***
Craig, 18 ***
White, 20 ***

AM
John, 18 ***
Devine, 17 ****
Robson, 19 ***
Mathurin, 17 ***
Santiago, 18 ****
Mundle, 18 ***
Clarke, 21 **

ST
Parrott, 19 ****
Etete, 20 ****
Scarlett, 17 ***

* Over 21, club-trained
** Over 21, association trained
*** UEFA B-list eligible, club trained
**** UEFA B-list eligible, not yet club trained
***** Not B-list eligible

Club-trained – three years in total at the club before the age of 21
B-list eligible – currently under 21, two consecutive years at the club

We currently have 15 outfield players who are B-list eligible, 11 of whom are already club trained.

However, most of these would benefit from going on loan and hopefully in some cases at least that will be what happens.

This leaves our U23 squad looking thin, though there may be some Academy lads ready to step up.

Of course some players will be brought in from other clubs. However, none of these will currently be B-list eligible, and unless very young it is unlikely that most ever will be. Or that they will ever be club trained.

The upshot is limited back-up options for the 12-man bench in the Champions League next season, and more concerningly a limited field of potential options to fill the club trained A list slots in future seasons.

 

[Delboy75]

Completely forgot about Clarke ?

 

[Locotoro]

I've been arguing for a while, perhaps a little too often for some peoples liking, that our lax attitude to results at youth level is seeing us produce technically proficient but physically and mentally lacklustre talent.

Surely there needs to be a balance though, right?
When I was coming through the football youth programs in the late 90s and early 00s I managed to do pretty well up to a point. I had good technical ability but I wasn't the tallest and I wasn't the fastest and players that were less technical than me but bigger or faster seemed to take precedence with the scouts.
I also had the luck of getting on to a trial with Sevilla juvenil system and it was the opposite end of the scale with players mostly smaller but technically off the charts.

There's got to be a way to promote players that have the physical qualities and the technical and mental qualities.

 

[arunspurs]

Armando Shashoua, ex- Spurs academy player most likely getting a move to RealMadrid Castilla (B team).... after a great cup run for minnows

El Madrid negocia con el Atlético Baleares el fichaje de Armando Shashoua

El conjunto blanco quiere que el jugador formado en la cantera del Tottenham sea una de las piezas angulares para la próxima temporada.

as.com

 

[McFlash]

Samuel Shashoua, ex- Spurs academy player most likely getting a move to RealMadrid Castilla (B team).... after a great cup run for minnows

El Madrid negocia con el Atlético Baleares el fichaje de Armando Shashoua

El conjunto blanco quiere que el jugador formado en la cantera del Tottenham sea una de las piezas angulares para la próxima temporada.

as.com

Was there an Armando Shashoua too? Or am I just confusing his first name with someone else?
Went off to Tenerife or somewhere.