Over the last few seasons Spurs have been lucky enough to be able to call on some youngsters from their Academy or Development squads. In the past few years we’ve seen Harry Kane, Tom Carroll, Andros Townsend and Ryan Mason all make the breakthrough to become Premier League players.
Not all of our Academy players will become Spurs regulars, indeed Mason and Townsend have both moved on to other clubs but we’re continuing to bring players through for the first team. Today we’re going look at the next group of players that could make that breakthrough.
All of these players are on the edge of our first team right now and have come through our Academy, highlighting the excellent work that John McDermott (read this old interview for more) and his team continue to put in.
Josh Onomah was the Academy player that made the most impact last season, who’s next?
Cameron Carter-Vickers
Our Southend born United States U23 defender has been at the club for some time and those that follow the youth teams have spoken highly of his development. He featured alongside Dominic Ball in our friendly against Juventus and despite an early mistake he showed he has the temperament to knuckle down and get on with the job at hand, even under great pressure.
That’s going to serve him well as he’s now recognised as the clubs fourth choice centre back. Those in front of him have proven themselves to be a reliable group of defenders and even if CCV is just training with them, he’ll learn from players like Alderweireld and Vertonghen.
Expect him to feature against Gillingham in the League Cup later this month.
Marcus Edwards
Quite possibly the jewel of our youth sides. Marcus Edwards has been talked about as a potential world beater for several seasons now and he’s starting to break through into the first team picture. He featured in the clubs Australian pre-season matches and also at Premier League 2 level but has yet to make it onto the subs bench at first team level yet.
Marcus Edwards is very small but has great technique and the ability to not only pick out team mates in tight situations but also to do the unexpected and either take a player on or get a shot away himself.
An attacking player that has played on the right, left and the no.10 position in the youth team set-up, Marcus Edwards has been coveted by other clubs for a number of seasons.
His time on the pitch in Australia hinted at his abilities but there is more to come and when he settles into the first team picture and shows us all what he can do, we’re going to have a peach of a player on our hands.
Kyle Walker-Peters
Though nominally a right back, Kyle Walker-Peters has also played at left-back for our development squad and also in our recent friendlies in Australia. With Danny Rose out injured for a few weeks, that kind of flexibility may just see young KWP get some time riding the pine.
He needs time to develop the defensive side of his game but he’s a real attacking force from right back and although it’s probably a season or so too early for him, we may see a little bit of him in cup matches.
He’s a bit small but he has time to grow and mature physically as he’s still only 19 years old.
Shayon Harrison
Shayon Harrison got his first goal at senior level against Inter Milan in our last pre-season friendly. With the club still not full stocked with options up front any kind of injury to Harry Kane or Vincent Janssen could see Shayon get some time on the bench and even a few minutes on the pitch in lower pressure matches.
A regular scorer at youth level he could find himself stuck in no-mans land as he trains with the first team but gets very little game time. With Kazaiah Sterling coming through the ranks just behind Shayon, he may find that he gets overlooked for matches at U23 level as well.
Harry Winks
Harry Winks has already got some minutes in the Premier League after he replaced Christian Eriksen against Liverpool. He had previously featured in some of our Europa League matches and will be looking to make the breakthrough as a Premier League player this season with more appearances likely, mostly from the bench.
Similar in style to another of our Academy graduates, Tom Carroll, Harry Winks is a good distributor of the ball and has seemingly impressed Mauricio Pochettino with his mature play and ability to keep the ball. With the departure of Ryan Mason there is now a space for Harry Winks in and around the first team squad and I suspect he will be a regular substitute for us this season.
His ability to read the game really stands out amonsgt his peers and he seems to know exactly what he’s going to do with the ball each and every time he receives it. He’s not the biggest player in the squad and the signing of Moussa Sissoko may reduce the number of minutes he gets on the field but he is certainly a talent that our manager will enjoy working with.