Tottenham Hotspur Links: Champions League Isn’t Necessary to Keep Spurs’ Best Players

Here’s today’s Tottenham Hotspur Links to read.

To begin today’s news, Mauricio Pochettino feels that having Champions League football for his club isn’t necessary to keep his best stars. The Argentine manager cites how Hugo Lloris and Harry Kane ruled out any moves during the summer to remain with Tottenham. And finally, Josh Onomah has been tipped to be one of the 10 young footballers to watch out for in 2016. This is high praise for an 18-year-old midfielder who has been given numerous appearances this season. To the links below.

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• Tottenham don’t need Champions League to keep stars
  • [via ESPN UK]

This statement is debatable seeing as how Tottenham have lost some of their best players: Michael Carrick, Robbie Keane, Dimitar Berbatov, Luka Modrić, and Gareth Bale to Champions League clubs. But with Mauricio Pochettino in charge of Tottenham, times might be changing.

When Manchester United were rumored to sign Hugo Lloris as a potential replacement if David de Gea left for Real Madrid, Tottenham’s number one ‘keeper opted to remain with Spurs instead. Harry Kane too, has stated his desire to win with Tottenham. Perhaps the allure of Champions League football isn’t as strong for a group of young Tottenham players with Pochettino managing the team through a very good season so far.

“Last season was the same,” Pochettino said during a news conference, when asked if Tottenham needed Champions League football to keep their best players.

“All of you asked me if Hugo Lloris would expect to leave if we didn’t achieve Champions League football. But Hugo Lloris is here and very happy, and Harry Kane is the same. It [Champions League football] is not necessary.”

“The important thing for the players is they need to know and they need to believe in the way that we are and the future of the club. The players need to trust in us that we are in a very good way.”

“It’s not about achieving different things or not. It’d be important to achieve Champions League football for next season. This is our challenge and our objective because we’re ambitious.”

“But it doesn’t depend on the position, it depends on the project and how we work and the way that we play and the way that we are now, they believe in success this season or next season or in two seasons.”

• Josh Onomah is a player to watch out for in 2016
  • [via The Guardian]

Josh Onomah has been listed as one of 10 young footballers to watch out for in 2016 according to The Guardian article linked above. That is high praise for the 18-year-old who is surprisingly a year younger than Dele Alli.

And now after Alli has proven that he can hang with the big boys in the Premier League — despite no prior experience and being a lower league player — Onomah will have even more pressure to perform just as well as Alli has since the England international came over from MK Dons last winter.

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Here’s an excerpt from Nick Ames of The Guardian about Josh Onomah:

“Mauricio Pochettino is not always given to effusiveness, so it caught the attention when he spoke almost evangelically about one of Tottenham’s young prospects in December.”

“‘He is a special boy, a special player,’ said Pochettino of Onomah, who had just made his first start in a Europa League win over Monaco.”

“The locally-born Onomah can play in a number of midfield positions and his blend of speed, power and vision certainly bodes well.”

“Pochettino gives youngsters more chances than most and has already entrusted him with substitute appearances in tight, tense games such as November’s north London derby against Arsenal.”

“A repeat of Dele Alli’s recent breakthrough is not an outlandish idea.”

Indeed, with Mauricio Pochettino giving plenty of young players a chance to earn playing time so long as they show that they deserve it, it wouldn’t be a stretch to see Josh Onomah become more involved next season for Tottenham. But trying to figure out where he would best fit will be key.

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Normally an attacking midfielder, there are other players who can play at the number 10, but actually play different positions instead — minus Christian Eriksen of course. Alex Pritchard can play wide left, Son Heung-min can play all four attacking spots, Dele Alli is getting an extensive run as an attacking mid.

Not to mention Érik Lamela, Mousa Dembélé and Ryan Mason getting a couple of spot starts as well. So overall, where will Josh Onomah fit tactically? He’s played out wide and looked good in that area. Perhaps, this is just another reason why Onomah is a must watch this term and next season.