Tottenham Hotspur have always been at their best as a club when they develop and believe in young players, forging a group of superstars for the next decade out of the young stars, both homegrown and otherwise, they have unearthed as true gems worth coveting.
Even with Luka Vuskovic gone to Brighton and Lucas Bergvall potentially following him out the door to another Premier League competitor for European places, Tottenham still have quite a few gems on their hands. Archie Gray looks like the next big thing in the middle of the park, and Mateus Fernandes, a new blockbuster signing for 85 million pounds from rivals West Ham United, is just as young and maybe even more talented. Mathys Tel and Wilson Odobert are young French wingers worth believing in.
But there are new, homegrown faces fighting for a spot in the 2026/27 Premier League squad that Roberto De Zerbi is highlighting for fans to watch out for as the next three projects the club believes in, and he told the supporters as much in a press conference ahead of a high octane friendly against rivals Chelsea.
Roberto De Zerbi believes in the academy
De Zerbi said, via Hotspur Lane, “It's very important to produce players from the academy. Now we are working on three or four potential very good players like Luca Williams-Barnett, Malachi Hardy and Mikey Moore, even if he's older.”
Of these three players, the funny thing is that Mikey Moore, who is the most well known of them and coming off a very successful loan spell to Rangers in the Scottish Premiership, has been the least impressive in the preseason thus far. Malachi Hardy looks ready to take some licks in the first team even as a center back, while the 17 year old Luca Williams-Barnett is suddenlly being talked up by Roberto De Zerbi, the fans, and even his teammates like Ben Davies and Mathys Tel as the next big thing in the midfield for Spurs.
Tottenham lost Luka Vuskovic, a legitimate Bundesliga Player of the Season sleeper at Hamburg, and yet they still feel even stronger in terms of future development. Moore may need a new loan to a club in Europe's top five, with Vuskovic's own former club Hamburg high on that list of destinations. But otherwise, Malachi Hardy and Luca Williams-Barnett are real candidates to get first team minutes, and they are the sort of prospects worth Roberto De Zerbi and the club believing in.
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