Tottenham’s Under-21s head coach Wayne Burnett has revealed that the youngsters at the club have developed a fierce winning mentality this season and believes that the trait will help them flourish when they make the step up to the first-team in the future.
The Spurs Under-21 side have come on leaps and bounds over the last 12 months, going from being nearly relegated from Premier League 2 last season to now being crowned league champions in 2023-24 following victory over their Sunderland counterparts at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.
Burnett has managed to achieve this despite the fact that many of his troops were called up to train with the senior side throughout the season, with the academy coach admitting that it was a fine balancing act between winning and doing what is best for the development of the players.
He told Football.London: “Our main objective is to get players into the first team, but part of their development and part of their growth is winning and learning how to win. They’ve done that for the majority of the season. We’ve not shied away from that. Development is important but part of that development is learning how to win.
“It’s been a really long season. We’ve had ups and downs but the players have been outstanding. They’ve shown real team togetherness, real character, mentality, worth ethic and we’ve managed to, with one final push, one opportunity, to get over the line.”
The 52-year-old was all praise for the youngster’s application and attitude, remarking that the results are a reflection of the players’ consistent habits throughout the season.
Wayne Burnett’s academy stars have impressed this season
When asked if the Under-21 players have developed the sort of winning mentality that Ange Postecoglou wants to see in the first-team, Burnett responded: “I’d like to think so. It’s important that we set that out. The game of football is about winning. We set out to win, we want to win, but we don’t come away from what’s important to us. The stuff that’s important to us is how hard we work every day, how much we’re learning and how much we’re developing.
“I think that those things just reveal themselves in games and they’ve done that throughout the season. This group has worked tirelessly. We’ve been fortunate to have a consistent group and they want to get better every day. They want to develop, they want to grow and they want to learn. That’s shown in some of the games. I’ve said to the players and I’ve said to them consistently, the game just reveals your habits. The game has revealed some good habits for us this year at times.”
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Most clubs will tell you that the main goal of the youth sides should be to develop players into finished products rather than winning trophies.
However, as Burnett points out, developing that hunger to win matches and silverware is an important part of a player’s development and Spurs under-21 stars will benefit immensely from the experiences they have had this season.