Will Lankshear

[Gutter Boy]

The difference is that Poch actually believed in giving youth an opportunity

Stopped us shipping out Kane for Welbeck at this equivalent juncture

 

[thfcsteff]

To me it's likelier that the club have decided to hang on to Solanke and Richy - Melia's probably a consideration for 2-3 years down the line, if at all.

I'm not fussed if we do stick with Richy and Dom - they're not spectacular, but neither are any of the options on the market right now. More important to strengthen everywhere else, so when we look again next year (and with Richy's contract having ended), we could potentially get a blockbuster striker as the finishing touch on an already good side.

There's one downing beers in Bavaria that might be up for it....

I was agreeing to the observation that in our 'youth striker we're sticking with' plan, perhaps we've opted for Melia over Lankshear...

 

[DubaiSpur]

The difference is that Poch actually believed in giving youth an opportunity

It's more complicated than that. Poch wanted to clear out the old guard he inherited, and didn't have the money to sign the players he really wanted. Remember, he wanted Jay Rodriguez and Morgan Schneiderlin from his Southampton side, and Mateo Musacchio - he got the dirt-cheap Benjamin Stambouli and Federico Fazio instead.

So, he turned to the youth as his only option to avoid playing players he was looking to freeze out and move on - Kaboul, Chiriches, Capoue, Adebayor and the like. In came the likes of Dier, Mason, Bentaleb, Townsend and Kane, Alli in 2015 and so on.

But, you also saw the exact reverse happen once Poch was established. Bentaleb and Townsend were dumped, Mason was dropped (even before his head injury). And over the years, as we got better and better, fewer and fewer young players broke through, and by the end a common complaint with Poch was that he didn't use young players enough, but also didn't loan them out - so they stagnated. And the youngsters he did use, didn't develop. The likes of Foyth, Skipp et al that people thought were world beaters, really weren't, but he got beaten over the head with criticism for ignoring them in favour of his ageing favorites.

So, truth is, managers who want to compete at the top want the best players - managers who have more leeway to float around lower in the table (like early Poch) tend to be more open to playing youth.

De Zerbi seems to be clear that he wants the club to compete at the top. This is a consequence. He still seems willing to play young players - Mateus Fernandes is 22, after all. But he seems to want young players immediately ready to contribute, which is what Fernandes seems to be.

 

[Ace Face]

It's more complicated than that. Poch wanted to clear out the old guard he inherited, and didn't have the money to sign the players he really wanted. Remember, he wanted Jay Rodriguez and Morgan Schneiderlin from his Southampton side, and Mateo Musacchio - he got the dirt-cheap Benjamin Stambouli and Federico Fazio instead.

So, he turned to the youth as his only option to avoid playing players he was looking to freeze out and move on - Kaboul, Chiriches, Capoue, Adebayor and the like. In came the likes of Dier, Mason, Bentaleb, Townsend and Kane, Alli in 2015 and so on.

But, you also saw the exact reverse happen once Poch was established. Bentaleb and Townsend were dumped, Mason was dropped (even before his head injury). And over the years, as we got better and better, fewer and fewer young players broke through, and by the end a common complaint with Poch was that he didn't use young players enough, but also didn't loan them out - so they stagnated. And the youngsters he did use, didn't develop. The likes of Foyth, Skipp et al that people thought were world beaters, really weren't, but he got beaten over the head with criticism for ignoring them in favour of his ageing favorites.

So, truth is, managers who want to compete at the top want the best players - managers who have more leeway to float around lower in the table (like early Poch) tend to be more open to playing youth.

De Zerbi seems to be clear that he wants the club to compete at the top. This is a consequence. He still seems willing to play young players - Mateus Fernandes is 22, after all. But he seems to want young players immediately ready to contribute, which is what Fernandes seems to be.

Yep. RDZ is aiming for the very top, which is something we should applaud. After all, he is following in the footsteps of the guy who said…

"It is better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low. And we of Spurs have set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory."

If that means we aren’t able to allow academy players the time to develop in the First XI then so be it. It just means that they have to set their personal sights higher if they want to stay at the club.

After all, when we look back in our history there have only been a handful of Academy graduates who have really made it to the very top (Kane, King, Hoddle etc) and very few who we can honestly say we regret letting go. Chances are extremely high that we will not regret letting Lankshear, DeVine etc leave for new pastures.

 

[DubaiSpur]

The

Yep. RDZ is aiming for the very top, which is something we should applaud. After all, he is following in the footsteps of the guy who said…

"It is better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low. And we of Spurs have set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory."

If that means we aren’t able to allow academy players the time to develop in the First XI then so be it. It just means that they have to set their personal sights higher if they want to stay at the club.

After all, when we look back in our history there have only been a handful of Academy graduates who have really made it to the very top (Kane, King, Hoddle etc) and very few who we can honestly say we regret letting go. Chances are extremely high that we will not regret letting Lankshear, DeVine etc leave for new pastures.

In recent times, I can honestly only think of Madueke as a player who went on to bigger things after leaving the academy. And the verdict on him is mixed, to put it lightly.

Even the players we did blood in the first team, like Winks and Skipp, didn't really have stellar careers - and remember, Winks looked absolutely world-class against Real Madrid, a level Lankshear et al haven't reached. He played in a Champions League final. Still wasn't good enough.

They've all had solid careers in the game - the likes of Skipp, Winks, Tanganga, Parrott, Townsend, Carroll, Bentaleb, Walker-Peters and so on. Some have even become mainstays for big continental clubs, and their national teams (Bentaleb for instance). Good, that's the job of an academy. But none have been players that would have moved the needle for us, had we kept them.

I get why people are emotional about young players being sold, but the data doesn't really back up that we're taking a huge risk here. I remember the DeAndre Yedlins, the Alex Pritchards, the Josh Onomahs, all with people insisting we had made a mistake selling them on. Didn't turn out that way.

 

[metalgear]

don't know if he will make it like kane, but i like that the club seems to have much clearer valuations and sell conditions.
like luca barnet has been added into pre season - feels like mobile technical players are the priority now.

 

[DubaiSpur]

don't know if he will make it like kane, but i like that the club seems to have much clearer valuations and sell conditions.
like luca barnet has been added into pre season - feels like mobile technical players are the priority now.

Well, Jamie Donley is also apparently being added to pre-season, and he's not the poster boy for 'mobile', let's put it that way. But he is technical, and I think that will play a greater role in club youth recruitment going forward.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Well, Jamie Donley is also apparently being added to pre-season, and he's not the poster boy for 'mobile', let's put it that way. But he is technical, and I think that will play a greater role in club youth recruitment going forward.

He’s certainly no less mobile than Lankshear (but has a much higher skill level).

 

[Mabspurs]

It's more complicated than that. Poch wanted to clear out the old guard he inherited, and didn't have the money to sign the players he really wanted. Remember, he wanted Jay Rodriguez and Morgan Schneiderlin from his Southampton side, and Mateo Musacchio - he got the dirt-cheap Benjamin Stambouli and Federico Fazio instead.

So, he turned to the youth as his only option to avoid playing players he was looking to freeze out and move on - Kaboul, Chiriches, Capoue, Adebayor and the like. In came the likes of Dier, Mason, Bentaleb, Townsend and Kane, Alli in 2015 and so on.

But, you also saw the exact reverse happen once Poch was established. Bentaleb and Townsend were dumped, Mason was dropped (even before his head injury). And over the years, as we got better and better, fewer and fewer young players broke through, and by the end a common complaint with Poch was that he didn't use young players enough, but also didn't loan them out - so they stagnated. And the youngsters he did use, didn't develop. The likes of Foyth, Skipp et al that people thought were world beaters, really weren't, but he got beaten over the head with criticism for ignoring them in favour of his ageing favorites.

So, truth is, managers who want to compete at the top want the best players - managers who have more leeway to float around lower in the table (like early Poch) tend to be more open to playing youth.

De Zerbi seems to be clear that he wants the club to compete at the top. This is a consequence. He still seems willing to play young players - Mateus Fernandes is 22, after all. But he seems to want young players immediately ready to contribute, which is what Fernandes seems to be.

Finally.... a non-revisionist look back. Nobody seems to recollect that Kane was hitting the net in the EL every game but Poch still refused to play him - despite fan clamour - until that fated substitution against Villa and the most fortuitous deflection off THAT free kick forced Poch to put him in the starting line up. So let's temper the messiah vibes about Poch playing youth....

 

[slimen75]

For Mickey Moore, it won't be the same story; I hope we keep him as an alternative to Tel on the left wing.