Four Tottenham Academy Players Have Shirt Numbers

Tottenham have given four academy players a potential chance to appear in the Europa League after handing out shirt numbers.

Somewhat big news has developed regarding Tottenham and their youth academy. Four prospects have been given shirt numbers after being selected to Tottenham’s squad in the Europa League when they take on Fiorentina, according to Sky Sports.

Each club participating in European football, UEFA has rules in place that states teams can’t have more than 25 players on List A for the season. Therefore a second list, List B, is used to put other players in.

Embed from Getty Images

Because List A can’t have more than 25 players during the season and two spots must be for goalkeepers, plus a minimum of eight spots are for “locally-trained players” with half of them for “association-trained players”.

This means Tom Glover was added to List A as a backup ‘keeper and given the No. 40 shirt.

Therefore, Spurs now have three goalkeepers on their squad with Hugo Lloris, Michel Vorm and now Tom Glover on List A. Interestingly enough, Luke McGee is on the B list instead (more on that below).

For List B, it’s a bit confusing so here’s Lyall Thomas of Sky Sports on the subject (words in bold are for emphasis):

"“The rules also state a player can be registered on List B if he is born on or after January 1, 1994 and has been eligible to play for the club concerned for any uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday by the time he is registered with UEFA.”“Players aged 16 may be registered on List B if they have been registered with the participating club for the previous two years without interruption. Each club is entitled to register an unlimited number of players on List B during the season.“"

In a nutshell, Tottenham have added Cameron Carter-Vickers (No. 38), Shayon Harrison (No. 39) and goalkeeper Alfie Whiteman (No. 41) to their B Squad. Essentially, List A is Tottenham’s main roster, while List B are emergency/reserve players.

More from Hotspur HQ

Cameron Carter-Vickers’ inclusion to the squad, as Toby Alderweireld’s backup, is great because he will continue to earn valuable time spent with Tottenham’s first-team as one of the youngest players in this group. In due time, the 18-year-old center-back will be called up to the first team.

For Shayon Harrison, another 18-year-old, his goalscoring form with Tottenham’s Under-21 team hasn’t gone unnoticed. And now he has been brought back to join Mauricio Pochettino’s first team once again.

Lastly, Alfie Whiteman, an Under-17 England international is Tottenham’s fifth-choice goalkeeper. But to learn from Hugo Lloris and Michel Vorm will be a big boost to Whiteman’s development.

All in all, Tottenham have given four promising academy players the chance to learn and train with the first team as well as earn some minutes if possible.

Now two names who didn’t make either lists are Federico Fazio and Alex Pritchard because they were loaned toSevilla and West Bromwich Albion for the end of the season, respectively.

Next: Spurs Will Offer Jan Vertonghen a Contract Extension

Finally, here’s Tottenham’s Europa League squad when they face Fiorentina later this month.

(* denotes a player on List B)

Goalkeepers: Lloris, Vorm, McGee*, Glover, Whiteman*

Defenders: Walker, Trippier, Rose, Davies, Alderweireld, Carter-Vickers*, Vertonghen, Wimmer

Midfielders: Dier, Bentaleb*, Dembele, Mason, Carroll, Winks*, Alli, Lamela, Onomah, Eriksen, Chadli

Forwards: Kane, Son, Harrison*, N’Jie

There are a total of 28 players on the squad with six on List B.

Home/Europa League