Mourinho’s Real Madrid track record may be a boost for Tottenham’s academy players

Rightly or wrongly, Tottenham head coach Jose Mourinho has a reputation of buying superstars rather than nurturing young talent with the Portuguese coach previously having never been shy to spend big in the transfer market (Telegraph).

In contrast, Tottenham are a club who have relied on producing players from the academy whilst also scouring the market for promising youngsters and turning them into first-team players with Aaron Lennon and Dele Alli being two examples.

Some Spurs fans can be forgiven for being worried that the Portuguese coach might not fit in with the club’s ethos of promoting young players, particularly after his insistence earier this season that Troy Parrott was not ready for first-team football (Standard).

The North London club has other talented youngsters waiting in the wings in the form of Malachi Fagan-Walcott, Dennis Cirkin and Harvey White who are all still waiting to getting their chance under the Spurs boss.

However, one look at Mourinho’s track record is enough to debunk this myth completely.

Marca have now named all 17 Real Madrid academy players who made their debuts for the Los Blancos during Mourinho’s three years in charge of the club.

The list boasts of names like Alvaro Morata, Nacho, Joselu, Jese, Denis Cheryshev, Omar Mascarell and Diego Llorente, who have all gone on to have successful careers in various leagues around Europe.

So based on the evidence of Mourinho’s time at Real Madrid, Tottenham’s academy prospects can certainly rest assured that they will be handed a chance if they impress the Spurs boss.

Spurs Web Opinion

Jose Mourinho’s decision to hand Japhet Tanganga his debut against Liverpool in January was proof that the Spurs boss isn’t afraid to throw youngsters into the deep end if he thinks they are ready. While his words about Parrott haven’t been too encouraging, I expect Skipp to be involved much more frequently from next season.

Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Related Topics

Have something to tell us about this article? Let us know