The Spurs Youth Thread - 2017/2018

mancman said:

IGSPUR made reference to how strong the Chelsea Youth squad is and how right he is. In the Sunday game against Spurs they had the following players missing (or rather unselected)
JAMIE CUMMING(GK), REECE JAMES (RB), DUJON STERLING (Utility- play anywhere!) - all members of the recently announced ENGLAND U19 Squad.
CALLUM HUDSON - ODOI (FW) & ETHAN AMPADU - members of first team squad and remarkably still first year scholars!
JONATHAN PANZO (DF) ENG U17 World Cup Winner.
Also Chelsea played their third choice striker (CHARLIE BROWN) with the better strikers DAISHAWN REDAN and MARTELL TAYLOR-CROSSDALE on the bench!
You would think that this strength in depth must at some time diminish but it seems unlikely given that the following players (U16) have turned out for the ENGLAND U16 team this year:
TINO ANJORIN (MF) DYNEL SIMEU (DF) DANIEL JINADU (GK) MYLES PEART-HARRIS (W/ATT FB))
VALENTINO LIVRAMENTO (?)
It does not stop there the following have turned out for the ENGLAND U15 team :-
HARVEY VALE, NATHAN YOUNG-COOMBES, JAMAL MUSIALA, XAVIER SIMONS,
JOE HAIGH, BEN ELLIOTT and also LEVI COLWILL, LUKE MOULTON, SAMUEL ILING and BRIGHT AKWO all attending U15 ENGLAND TRIALS!
So we better get used to continuing Chelsea dominance at this level. Still what should be remembered is that SPURS actually produce more top quality players : - HARRY KANE, HARRY WINKS, ANDROS TOWNSEND, TOM CARROLL, STEVE CAULKER, NABIL BENTALEB, JAKE LIVERMORE, ADAM SMITH, RYAN MASON and ALEX PRITCHARD in recent times. This is not to mention (but I will) the following : - YURI BERCHICHE (at PSG) MILOS VELJKOVIC, MASSIMO LUONGO, RYAN FREDERICKS, NATHAN BYRNE, JORDAN ARCHER & KEVIN STEWART. A final mention for JOSH ONOMAH, CAM CARTER-VICKERS and KYLE WALKER-PETERS. Not too shabby me thinks!

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IGSpur said:

I don't know why anyone would think Chelsea are slowing down, they're an excellent academy. They have had so many players that could be playing for England but have been completely wasted. All Chelsea needed to show was some patience, but fans and owners want instant gratification so are never willing to wait to see the development through, as people believe that developing a player means wores results. I guess we're at that stage now. But at the end of the day Chelsea have won 2 of the last 4 PL titles so do they really care? When they had DeBryune and Salah but didn't want to put in the time to see them through, what chance do their academy players have, and then most will write them off as not being good enough. An academy player is only as good as the chances they get given.

Regardless despite their 'poor record' at developing players Chelsea have the following academy players in the PL: Patrick Van Aanholt, Nathan Ake, Tammay Abraham, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Steve Sidwell, Glen Johnson, Ryan Bertrand, Nathaniel Chalobah, Robert Huth, Andreas Christensen. So we have 12 to their 10, though I may have missed some. So in terms of producing for the PL there isn't much difference between them and us. We get a lot of hype thanks to what Sherwood did and the fact we could give second hand minutes in the Europa League. So our players came through with us and played around better players at the time making them look better and helping their development before being sold. Yet even despite that our special circumstances, according to the link below, and I do not know exactly what their criteria is, it appears other clubs who have featured in the CL longer than us, are still developing players better than we are. If only Chelsea had Jody Morris in charge for a season like Sherwood the England team would look a lot stronger

https://www.90min.com/posts/5715185...rs-currently-active-in-europe-s-top-5-leagues

This is probably the reason why clubs will choose Chelsea over us. When they offer money AND a better chance of a career in the Top 5 league though it may not be with their parent club. We seem to losing our only incentive which is a shot, at a top 5/6 club before stepping down if they do not make it. Without that we really don't have much more to offer.

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Cornpattbuck said:

Glen Johnson was a West Ham youth player...

Steve Sidwell was an Arsenal youngster...

Huth, Van Aarnholt, Ake, Bertrand and Christensen were all bought as 'hot prospects' at 16/17 years of age... (I know, I know, that old argument...)

Anyway, valid point...

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Bus-Conductor said:

So not laziness at all then. And you accused me of seeing what I want to see.

Just an “ambitious kid” who gets the hump when he’s not playing. We even had other players saying he was the hardest trainer and last off the training ground when he was here.

And this is my issue with some of the Edwards bollocks. We get coaches saying one thing (such as he has learning to do), and it gets twisted into he’s “a coaster with no humility and a shit attitude”.

We saw (and are still seeing) exactly the same with Bentaleb. He went from kid with great attitude to “over ambitious billy big bollocks troublemaker” without kicking a ball one summer, just because he asked for a pay rise to something like a quarter of what we are now paying Sissoko and Aurier.

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Lilbaz said:

£85k wasn't it? He refused to sign for ages till he was in the last year ove his contract.

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Lilbaz said:

£85k wasn't it? He refused to sign for ages till he was in the last year of his contract.

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WindyCOYS said:

Sadly I’ve heard that Brooklyn’s injury is a bad one and that his leg might be broken.

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WindyCOYS said:

Sadly I’ve heard that Brooklyn’s injury is a bad one and that his leg might be broken.

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IGSpur said:

Forgot that Johnson was a West Ham player, and don't know why I though Sidwell was Chelsea. Either way 12 to their 8. Over the course of 10 years or so we have only produced 4 more PL players despite each clubs' perceived reputation.

I see what you're saying, and as you say it's murky territory as we brought in Rose, Bentaleb and even Pritchard rejoined us at 16 iirc. But regardless when the point is about attracting talent to the academy, I think how those that joined later go onto develop is probably even more pertinent, when deciding what club to join, than those who have always been there.

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WindyCOYS said:

Sadly I’ve heard that Brooklyn’s injury is a bad one and that his leg might be broken.

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Bus-Conductor said:

Who is Brooklyn ?

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Cornpattbuck said:

Ah bugger. Was it bad luck or foul play?

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Blake Griffin said:

just passed the ball and seemed to step awkwardly and went down, he did get back on his feet and hobble around a bit but went back down again. he did walk off, is that possible with a break?

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Spurzinho said:

Are you sure about Pritch?

I know he joined as as an U9 from West Ham but I was never aware that he left us again for them.

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