Football London’s Alasdair Gold has reported that Antonio Conte expects the Tottenham academy to develop youngsters to a point that he can immediately start playing them in the first team.
It is said that Conte does not expect to have to develop young players himself at Hotspur Way and instead wants the best of the best academy starlets to be readymade for senior football.
Tottenham have been far from prolific when it comes to promoting young talent from the academy in recent years, with Oliver Skipp and Japhet Tanganga being the last two to make the leap in any meaningful way.
That says a lot considering the duo are now 22 and 23 respectively. The likes of Alfie Devine and Dane Scarlett are currently the shining lights of the Spurs youth system, while starlets like Jamie Donley are also coming through.
However, Tottenham need to start forging a clear pathway, or risk losing them to other clubs, just like what happened with Marcus Edwards, Noni Madueke, and Dilan Markanday.
Spurs Web Opinion:
I understand this mentality from Conte. He doesn’t want to have to carry a single member of his squad, which is fine as long as he still appreciates the academy talent will be very raw and still need a lot of developing in general.