Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino wants to build his squad around home-grown talent
LONDON, United Kingdom, Apr 14 – Mauricio Pochettino intends to follow the example set by Sir Alex Ferguson by building his Spurs squad around homegrown talent.
The Tottenham boss, who has the good fortune of managing several of the country’s brightest young stars in Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Danny Rose and Kyle Walker, says that investing time in developing local talent has always been his goal as a manager.
“There is big pressure to win when you are a big club,” Pochettino told reporters.
“But for me the best example in football in many years was Manchester United with Sir Alex Ferguson – and what he created with young talent from the academy or from England. It created the core of a team that won everything. That is a good example for me,” the Argentine added.
“From day one, when we arrived at Southampton, we always said to you [the media], the fans and the coaches that the most important thing was to show belief and faith in the young talent in England,” he continued.
“One of our challenges in the last four years was to show the English people that the talent exists here. I think Southampton and Tottenham are showing that, if you believe and work and spend time, they have the same talent as in Argentina, Spain and Brazil.”
Two of his young players, Alli and Kane have been nominated for the 2016/17 PFA Young Player of the Year award, a title currently held by the 20-year old Alli.
If either of the two Tottenham nominees walk away with the prize, it would be the club’s fifth win in six years with Walker, Gareth Bale, Kane all being previous recipients.
“Tottenham is not the only club in England that believes in young players,” Pochettino continued.
“But I think it is one of the best few clubs that believes and for young players it is a perfect club to develop their game and we have had success in the league.”
