- Aug 17, 2005
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Tottenham Hotspur’s academy quickly gaining the recognition it deserves
Tottenham Hotspur’s academy quickly gaining the recognition it deserves
In a footballing landscape dominated by the transfer market, the importance of a strong youth academy at a club is often overlooked.
Why spend years developing young players when you can simply buy the finished product from somewhere else, right? It seems a far quicker and more efficient way of building a side ready to challenge for a title. But what happens when the players brought in fail to make an impact? Tottenham Hotspur Football Club seems to have found an answer.
Since the departure of superstar duo Gareth Bale and Luka Modric to Real Madrid, Tottenham has had largely mixed fortunes dealing in the transfer market. Whilst the Spurs have made some shrewd purchases, with Christian Eriksen and Hugo Lloris being the two most heralded, it has largely been criticised for their expensive mistakes. The £26 million Roberto Soldado has scored just 16 goals in 70 appearances for the club, the £25 million Erik Lamela has failed to fulfil his potential and the £17 million Paulinho often looks lost on the Premier League stage. Despite their transfer worries, however, Tottenham sits only three points from fourth position. This success can largely be attributed to the club’s academy.
While big names like Soldado struggle to leave an impression on the league, many Spurs academy graduates are establishing themselves as key components of Mauricio Pochettino’s starting 11. No graduate or player has been more impressive this term than Harry Kane. Sitting third on the league goalscoring charts behind only Sergio Aguero and Diego Costa, Kane has breathed fresh life into a Tottenham side that has struggled for consistency. In fact, the 20-year-old’s 16 league goals this term have already surpassed the side’s leading scorer of the 2013-14 season, Emmanuel Adebayor. His 26 goals in all competitions this season is more than double the tally of Soldado, Paulinho and Lamela together. Not bad considering Kane cost roughly £68 million less than the trio. Such is the benefit of a strong academy.
One successful player does not make an academy a success, however.
Four current first team contributors, on the other hand, and the word ‘success’ becomes a formality. This is the position Tottenham find itself in. While the standout performances of the Chingford born striker may earn him the media spotlight, he is not the only academy graduate at the club contributing to its push for European Football in 2016.
Appearing in 27 games across all competitions this season, Ryan Mason’s consistent performances have gone underappreciated. These performances have allowed the likes of Kane, Eriksen and Nacer Chadli to perform effectively in the forward third, making the outfit as a whole more potent. The Enfield-born midfielder, who is fresh from scoring his first league goal for the club, has been partnered in midfield with fellow academy graduate Nabil Bentaleb.
A 20-year-old Algerian international, Bentaleb already has a World Cup start to his name. His increasing importance to the Tottenham side is best highlighted through his start in the Cup final against Chelsea. The same could be said of Andros Townsend, who rounded out the quartet of academy graduates starting in that final. Whilst the Spurs did go on to lose the final, it speaks volumes of the club’s academy that these four were preferred by Pochettino to household names such as Soldado, Adebayor and Moussa Dembele in the highest pressure scenario.
When the term ‘football academy’ is mentioned, Barcelona’s La Masia will always be the first thought in the mind of avid football fans. In England, however, Tottenham is fast making claims for the best youth system in the country. With the continued success of Kane, Bentaleb, Mason and Townsend, it is a claim that is getting hard to ignore.