The All New Spurs U21, U18 & Other Youth News Thread

[Spursidol]

Really hope to see this as just the beginning/tip of the iceberg in terms of creating a club with a winning mentality from top to bottom. We've obviously got a ton of talent throughout the system and it's going to be exciting to see how the development of these youngsters goes given the great facilities at their disposal. Also, just like how we have apparently brought in Musa Yahaya, Ismail Azzaoui, etc. I'm sure the training ground has a huge pull and will allow for us to attract players who really could hold a lot of value someday.

Promising days, indeed.

Lots of very good ralent coming thriugh now - we can see them in this thread right the way dwn to maybe 14. The problem in recent years has been the bility to get them plauing in the first team either duirectly or after loans to other clubs. So I was delighted to see that this pre-season we've had (in no order) Kane, Bentalleb, Veljkovic, Fredericks, Carroll, Mason, Fryers and Ceballos. Niot all of those will make it but I'm now hopeful that at least half of those will get decent playing time this season and start to become proper members of the first team squad, even if a couple move on later.

But I;m then confident that with a manager prepared to involve the best in pre-season that the next crop will have the opportunities they need and follow a similar path. Both squad players and a few genuine stars

It is not fanciful to think that in say 5 years time 50% of our squad will have come through the yoth set up - now that will be quite something.ine stars come .

 

[Spursidol]

Do we usually pull this many young internationals into our youth team (Yahaya, Azzaoui, Lazar, etc.) every year or is this something new?

Veljkovoc, Bentaleb, Luongo and a few others have joined us from time to time - we will tecruit at all ages, but its probably true that 75% of the academy players will have been living in Vritain before joining the academy

 

[Sweech]

Veljkovoc, Bentaleb, Luongo and a few others have joined us from time to time - we will tecruit at all ages, but its probably true that 75% of the academy players will have been living in Vritain before joining the academy

Yeah, I've known about some of them, but those guys all seemed a little more dispersed. We've already added 3 internationals in one year who are all about the same age (two 16 and one 15).

Frankly this year's transfers etc. look like someone is running this club in Football Manager.

 

[Luka Van der Bale]

Yeah, I've known about some of them, but those guys all seemed a little more dispersed. We've already added 3 internationals in one year who are all about the same age (two 16 and one 15).

Frankly this year's transfers etc. look like someone is running this club in Football Manager.

I suspect Baldini's involvement here.

 

[IGSpur]

Yeah, I've known about some of them, but those guys all seemed a little more dispersed. We've already added 3 internationals in one year who are all about the same age (two 16 and one 15).

Frankly this year's transfers etc. look like someone is running this club in Football Manager.

While Baldini has probably helped on this occasion I do remember the last time we signed a few foreign youngsters, it was all at a similar time too, so don't think this is the first time. We may just do it in waves. I had a quick look and:-

Luongo joined January 11
Coulibaly joined July 11
Ceballos joined July 2011
Veljkovic joined August 11
Bentaleb joined January 2012

Those 5 joined in one year. Whereas 4 of those came in during the 2011/12 season transfer windows, with 3 of them coming in during the summer, similar to this season. After Bentaleb I can't think who might be the next young foregin player we signed until the 3 recent ones. So for whatever reason it may seem to go in waves. I was going to say that the difference may be that the recent ones are younger and have more clout so to speak but it's still quite similar. Only Ceballos and Coulibaly joined us with a reputaion, and Lazar being one of the younger Romanians and Yahaya have also joined with reputaions.

Lazar is 15 as was Veljkovic
Azzaioui is 16 as was Coulibaly
Yahaya is 16 Bentaleb was 17 I think.

 

[RickyVilla]

Who is this Loft fella? Never heard him mentioned before. Any info Spurs Idol?

 

[IGSpur]

Who is this Loft fella? Never heard him mentioned before. Any info Spurs Idol?

He's a striker and played with the u16s last year. Anticipate him being part of the new First Year intake.

In terms of actual info on style of play, hard to say as haven't really seen him play and doubt many would have. But by the sounds of it he seems quite tenacious, which is good.

 

[wlhatwhl]

Eurofoot s/f: Paranaense scored a goal in each half to progress to the Final while Spurs play Nordjaelland in the 3rd/4th place play-off.

Spurs lost 1 - 0 in the 3rd/4th place play-off.

A 4th-placed finish was a good performance from such a young team - great experience for the players.

 

[agrdavidsfan]

Alex was asked on twitter and said the surname was a co-incidence, so not sure Ray is correct - unless of course Alex was winding us up !.

Not conclusive I know, but Alex born in Essex, Joe in Watford.....

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/professionals-profiles/alex-pritchard/ Born in Essex

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/first-year-academy/joe-pritchard/ Born in Watford

Nose on both looks identical

 

[eddiebailey]

Luongo joined January 11
Coulibaly joined July 11
Ceballos joined July 2011
Veljkovic joined August 11
Bentaleb joined January 2012

Add:

Lameiras July 2011
Gomelt July(?) 2011

 

[CJMurray]

Add:

Lameiras July 2011
Gomelt July(?) 2011

Think we took Lameiras from Brentford iirc.

 

[eddiebailey]

Think we took Lameiras from Brentford iirc.

Admit I did wonder about that one; I know he is Portugese born but no idea where he spent the intervening 17 years.

 

[Spursidol]

Add:

Lameiras July 2011
Gomelt July(?) 2011

Lameiras parents were Portugese and I think Lameiras moved to London with them aged circa 5 ish, so in many ways he's a Londoner now.

My take on it is not that its gone in waves but we had a dabble to see whether buying top players aged 16 or so from overseas 'worked' for us and we could overcome all the issues like homesickness, finding parents of the kids work, getting visas, acclimatisation to English culture etc as well as developing them - after all we know from buying the likes of Bostock its not guaranteed to work to bring in 'stars; at a young age. I would guess we are happy with the results - and with AVB moved on (who seemed not to encoiurage a route into the first team for youngsters) we are bringing in the next batch of youngsters to see if we get some good players from there.

Results :
Luongo - very decent midfielder, probably sold as we had beter players coming through (eg Bentaleb)
Coulibaly - jury out, doesn't seem to have settled hence Italian loan last season
Ceballos - ok, but hasn't made as much of an impression as we had hoped, but might still in a years time
Veljkovic - Taken to first team duties like a duck to water. Still a way to go but looks a potentially excellent acquisition
Bentaleb - Excellent debut season, looks assured to be a good PL player, hopefully good enough for top 4 club .
Gomelt - Amazing debut (hatrick in 38 minutes) but struggled to impress since, possibly with visa/work permit issues.

So taking that group. Benteb and Veljkovic look real successes, whilst Ceballos and Luongo maybe 'good but not good enough' . So overall the results of those 4 (Bentalen and Veljkovic are probably worth £m's each whilst Luongo and Ceballos say £1m each) give a big return on the initial investment and training - hence Spurs have every reason to try it again.

 

[newbie]

Lameiras parents were Portugese and I think Lameiras moved to London with them aged circa 5 ish, so in many ways he's a Londoner now.

My take on it is not that its gone in waves but we had a dabble to see whether buying top players aged 16 or so from overseas 'worked' for us and we could overcome all the issues like homesickness, finding parents of the kids work, getting visas, acclimatisation to English culture etc as well as developing them - after all we know from buying the likes of Boatock its not guaranteed to work to bring in 'stars; at a young age. I would guess we are happy with the results - and with AVB moved on (who seemed not to encoiurage a route into the first team for youngsters) we are bringing in the next batch of youngsters to see if we get some good players from there.

Results :
Luongo - very decent midfielder, probably sold as we had beter players coming through (eg Bentaleb)
Coulibaly - jury out, doesn't seem to have settled hence Italian loan last season
Ceballos - ok, but hasn't made as much of an impression as we had hoped, but might still in a years time
Veljkovic - Taken to first team duties like a duck to water. Still a way to go but looks a potentially excellent acquisition
Bentaleb - Excellent debut season, looks assured t be a good PL player .
Gomelt - Amazing debut (hatrick in 38 minutes) but struggled to impress since, possibly with visa/work permit issues.

So taking that group. Benteb and Veljkovic look real successes, whilst Ceballos anmd Luongo maybe 'good but not good enough' . So overall the results of those 4 (Bentalen and Veljkovic are probably worth £m's each whilst Luongo and Ceballos say £1m each) give a big return on the initial investment and training - hence Spurs have every reason to try it again.

Only if when trying it we bring in better players than we already have, kassim last season did better than dean parret and john bostock. Kids / people develope at different ages, also the money / success can ruin them my mate worked at Bolton he said girls targeted youth players from Bolton, United, black burn, Liverpool ect in the north east from 15-16 yrs old so u know agents and hangers on must be a massive problem. How many kids loose motivation and there way, owen price at spurs was mates with a lad who worked with me he said to much Monet to soon. Ravel Morrison another example of wasted talent.

I saw Danny cipprani say the other day he didn't work as hard as he should of as from a young age evertpyone told him he would play for England. Same must happen to a lot of kids, will Bentalab be better for all his rejection ? Did bostock get to much to soon.

Let's pray mason makes it this year as he was meant tone a role model kid the academy and it would be great to have another success story.

 

[Spursidol]

Only if when trying it we bring in better players than we already have, kassim last season did better than dean parret and john bostock. Kids / people develope at different ages, also the money / success can ruin them my mate worked at Bolton he said girls targeted youth players from Bolton, United, black burn, Liverpool ect in the north east from 15-16 yrs old so u know agents and hangers on must be a massive problem. How many kids loose motivation and there way, owen price at spurs was mates with a lad who worked with me he said to much Monet to soon. Ravel Morrison another example of wasted talent.

I saw Danny cipprani say the other day he didn't work as hard as he should of as from a young age evertpyone told him he would play for England. Same must happen to a lot of kids, will Bentalab be better for all his rejection ? Did bostock get to much to soon.

Let's pray mason makes it this year as he was meant tone a role model kid the academy and it would be great to have another success story.

Masson making it at at Spurs would be amazing - I was sure he would when he was 18 but after lots of injuries, thuoght he might have missed 'the last chance saloon'

You are correct with your comment on young players losing motivation - I'm sure that many of thee best academies now have some sort of 'psycological assessment' test to see if they think players will stat motivated (maybe including talks with parents to see if they will be a good role model for the kid etc). We've had our share of players losing motivation - one who looked the best player on the pitch in an England u16 v Wales u16 match (Scott Thyer) left football after 18 months at Spurs whilstr Leigh Mills (future England CB and captain) went into non league football for similar reasons....and we all know about Bostock. I'm sure we haven't totally solved the problem but IMO we have better coaches now to help make the players stay focussed.....but out of hours its difficult for the club to 'police' the kids which is where the role models come in

 

[jondesouza]

Mason certainly seems to be getting a chance in pre-season in a deep-lying creative role rather than the number 10 where he played for the Academy. To be honest I'm just happy he's getting a chance at all. He's started most games so far - it'll be interesting if he lines up against as Schalke as it may be an indication that he's in with a chance when the season proper starts.

 

[beats1]

Mason certainly seems to be getting a chance in pre-season in a deep-lying creative role rather than the number 10 where he played for the Academy. To be honest I'm just happy he's getting a chance at all. He's started most games so far - it'll be interesting if he lines up against as Schalke as it may be an indication that he's in with a chance when the season proper starts.

I am worried, we should be downsizing but we aren't at the moment and we are adding to the numbers. Bentaleb has probably been our best CM in the last 6 months and that says it all.

We have atm
CM: Dembele, Paulinho, Sandro, Capoue, Bentaleb, Mason and Carroll

Then we have these players possibly looking to make it
Development squad: Winks, Miller(dark horse), Onomah and Vejlkovic plus more that I forgotten

A couple have been tipped for big things yet the rate we are going at, they are a long way from the team when they even get to Bentaleb's age

Im a bit gutted for Mason since he and/or Carroll are exactly what we need/missing from CM. However Schniederlin is much of the same and imo we need to move two of Dembele, Sandro, Paulinho and Capoue to bring him in, if we want a playmaker in the mix.

As for Carroll, who has been getting a lot of stick(unfairly) but he got motm in the only match he played with a defensive midfielder

Also last season Barkley was one of Everton's best players, yet the season before he had struggled on loan for leeds and got sent home early

 

[wlhatwhl]

Shaq Coulthirst reported to be close to signing for Southend on loan for the season.

@HotspurRelated on Twitter: Reports believe Tottenham forward Shaq Coulthirst is close to joining Southend United on a season long loan.

 

[SlickMongoose]

I'm surprised he can't get a league 1 loan.

 

[THFCSPURS19]