Tottenham Prefer Development Over Loans

Mauricio Pochettino shared publicly for the first time one of his guiding principles as manager of Tottenham Hotspur. It boils down to this: keep quality close.

Under previous managers — particularly Harry Redknapp — Tottenham usually passed on the development of young players to other teams via the loan system.

Once youngsters graduated from the Academy, they often found themselves on a journey through England’s lower leagues. There are few examples from the immediate pre-Pochettino era of promising young players immediately moving into the first team.

Some exceptional players found enough traction in those loan moves to make a case for inclusion at Tottenham. All of Harry Kane, Kyle Walker and Danny Rose enjoyed spells at other clubs before being brought back to their parent club.

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Others weren’t so lucky. Andros Townsend, Ryan Mason and Tom Carroll each went through at least four different clubs — Townsend actually played for nine — before they were given meaningful chances at Tottenham. It was hardly a surprise when the dramatic mix of philosophies those players were exposed to over the years failed to help them fit in with Pochettino’s methods.

Upon his arrival in 2014, Pochettino quickly went about making changes to the club’s policy that avoided creating another Townsend.

With the match Sunday against Millwall — one of the clubs that nurtured a young Kane — Pochettino was asked about his take on the effectiveness of loans. As quoted by the Guardian:

"“I prefer to have our young players here and offer them the potential to be first‑team players. If you don’t get the opportunities – like Harry and some other players – to be involved with the first team it is best to move. But when you give those players the opportunity to train with the senior squad that is an even better experience. It means every day there is an under-18 striker training with Harry Kane. There is no better teacher to learn from.”"

That philosophy of Pochettino’s was obvious long before he ever provided a soundbite. He clearly prefers to keep some players closer to home, even if that means depriving them of experience early on.

Josh Onomah was perhaps the first example of this. The Academy product found himself promoted directly from the under-21 squad to the Spurs first team last term. He only enjoyed sporadic and limited minutes, but Pochettino clearly saw something in the young man. It was better, in the Argentine’s mind, to indoctrinate Onomah than to give him minutes at a club with a style incongruous with Spurs’. He continued, again from the Guardian:

"“Where would we send him? It would be a completely different philosophy. If you don’t have the opportunity to train every day with the first team, it is true it is good to grow up in another place and come back. But here we try to provide the facility to train with the first team for any player who can cope with the pressure.”"

That field of young players training with the first team though mostly residing on the bench expanded this past summer. Cameron Carter-Vickers and Harry Winks joined Onomah as regular fixtures in training and matchday squads.

To date the biggest beneficiary of this policy is almost certainly Winks. He’s earned full starts this season and even scored his first senior goal for the club. His time might not come this season or even next, but Winks is being slowly groomed for a starting role.

That trio will be joined in short order by other promising youngsters Marcus Edwards and Kazaiah Sterling — the latter of which Pochettino singled out as a first team member next season.

Next: Tottenham Lineup Predictor: Home vs Millwall

Not all Academy graduates rank as high in esteem as Winks and company though. Pochettino allowed players like Alex Pritchard, Dominic Ball and Anton Walkes to go out on loan. Though he didn’t openly admit to it, the implicit message here is that those players aren’t quite to his standard. Unsurprisingly, Pritchard and Ball were sold before getting a chance with the first team.