Ange Postecoglou has said Tottenham’s emerging collection of talented teenagers are ‘special’ after watching his inexperienced side win 2-1 at Ferencvaros in the Europa League.
Postecoglou handed starts to four teenagers with summer signings Archie Gray (18) and Lucas Bergvall (18) featuring alongside academy graduates Mikey Moore (17) and Will Lankshear (19).
The Australian was asked at his post-match press conference whether Spurs’ crop of youngsters were ‘special’ after contributing to the first team at such a young age.
“Yes, they are. They’re 18. What were you doing when you were 18?”
When questioned whether football seems to have moved towards more youngsters getting early opportunities, following Lamine Yamal’s success with Barcelona and Spain, Postecoglou insisted it was still rare for footballers to break through at top teams while still teenagers.
Postecoglou says Tottenham teenagers are ‘rare’ talents
“No, I still wouldn’t say that. I mean how many 17-year-olds are playing in the Premier League? Yamal is brilliant, but it’s not a common thing. It’s still pretty rare because you have to take into account, not just their physical maturity at 17 of being able to handle it, their emotional maturity, you’ve got to be really careful.
“There are always exceptions to the rule and Yamal is certainly one of them, but like I said, if you look at the Premier League, how many 17-year-olds are actually contributing? Mikey is already, which shows that he’s got something special, but we’ve just got to be really careful about how we develop that.
“I think because it’s too easy just to say, ‘oh, you know, he’s a great young player just throw him in there’, especially in the Premier League because of all the leagues probably in Europe, it’s the most physically challenging.
“So, young players, the first thing I want to see is can they handle it and to be fair, Mike handles it pretty well, and certainly Archie and Lucas have that, but we’ve got to be careful with them.
“At the same time, we’ve brought some really talented young players to the club and part of my pitch to them was that we will develop them and they will play and it’s my responsibility to make sure they do that.
“I can’t shy away from that because the next 18 or 17-year-old who I sign will point to recent experience. So it’s important we give them the game time they deserve.”
