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Academy news

Strikegold

Strikegold

Well-Known Member
Mikey Moore looks a prospect. Apologies for the music


Very much so and a few others impressed out in Australia. The pre season matches might give a bit more of an indication who could break into the first team next season.
Ange wants to strengthen our attack with signings but Donley and Moore could be in the mix. Not sure about Scarlett, he doesn't seem to grasp the opportunities presented.
 
Havocc

Havocc

Well-Known Member
Founding Member
Very much so and a few others impressed out in Australia. The pre season matches might give a bit more of an indication who could break into the first team next season.
Ange wants to strengthen our attack with signings but Donley and Moore could be in the mix. Not sure about Scarlett, he doesn't seem to grasp the opportunities presented.
Hopefully with the Europa League will allow us to bed some of these players in. Although, with the new league format I wonder if we will have any “dead rubber” games. Usually you would have the last group game to play these guys in once qualified, not sure it will be like that.

Scarlett did well at Portsmouth, but not great at his last loan (IIRC, Ipswich),Interesting to see what will happen during the summer.
 
USspur

USspur

Well-Known Member
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USspur

USspur

Well-Known Member

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."

Following on the heels of last season's U18 and U17 Premier League Cup wins for Stuart Lewis' younger side, it feels like Burnett's Premier League 2 double trophy triumph has further cemented the winning mentality within the club that Postecoglou hopes to develop into the first team set-up.

"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," said Burnett.




"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."

Postecoglou has handed Premier League debuts to Jamie Donley and U18s midfielder Mikey Moore this season, following on from U21s captain George Abbott's debut at the end of the previous campaign, with Matthew Craig, who has been on loan at Doncaster Rovers this season. Yago Santiago and Alfie Dorrington have made the bench this season while talented 18-year-old Tyrese Hall was also named on the bench by Postecoglou for the penultimate game of this season and was among those who the Australian took out for the post-season friendly against Newcastle in Melbourne last week.


"Of course [it makes me proud]. It's not just me but whenever an academy graduate or someone from our academy gets anywhere near our first team it's such an achievement," said Burnett. "We're so proud of it, not just the coaching staff but the whole group of staff that have contributed to the development of that player. When you look at Jamie and Mikey Moore, Tyrese and George and all of them, we're just so, so proud of them.

"It's our job to get them ready. It's our job to make sure that when the opportunity presents itself they're ready and that's what we're striving for on a day-to-day basis."

With players like 16-year-old Moore, who missed out on U21s football this season due to injuries at key moments but is currently lighting up the European U17 Championships with England after appearing in the Premier League against Manchester City and Sheffield United, Burnett has urged caution over how many will make the jump from the successful youth set-up to become full-time first team regulars.

"It's difficult, they're still learning, they're still developing. There are many obstacles, there's adversity they have to overcome, but looking at the players, they have a strong will, a strong desire," he said. "They want to develop and they want to get better. If you have those things it will give you a real opportunity. It's difficult to say because they're still young players and they're still young men developing. If we can get any of them in [to the first team], it would be fantastic."

One player that Tottenham fans are calling for to get some first team game time is Will Lankshear. The 19-year-old striker scored a remarkable 32 goals this season for the U21s, being named the Premier League 2 Player of the Season in the process, but is yet to get a look-in under Postecoglou and was not one of the group taken to Melbourne.

Burnett has been delighted with the prolific young striker, who scored twice against Sunderland on Sunday, and explained what there are still things for the teenager to work on in order to continue to progress.

"Credit to him. He had a bad injury towards the end of last year and he's worked tirelessly. He's obsessed with scoring goals. Like any good striker they have a want and a willingness to score. He gets upset when he doesn't score and that's something he has to overcome and get rid of the disappointment at times," he admitted.

"But he's a goalscorer because he wants to get in the frame of the goal. He's brave and he's been a decent finisher. You don't score that many goals out of coincidence. He's worked tirelessly and he's got a really nice trait that he's obsessed with scoring goals. I don't like to label players, and I'm not saying he's an old school striker, but he's a centre-forward who thrives on crosses and balls into the box. He's got that willingness to run in behind and his hold-up play is getting better.

"He's still, and he'll admit this himself, got stuff that he needs to work on for his career, but he's working and he works every day. You have a player that has an obsession with scoring goals. That helps and I think that he will be judged on how many goals he scores. He's certainly done that this season."
Many of Lankshear's goals have been provided by Donley, who has been the standout player in a strong U21s group this season which resulted in his four appearances for the first team. So will the 19-year-old playmaker get further chances under Postecoglou next season with Europa League football on the schedule or will he head out on loan to play regular first team football?

"I think that's undecided at this moment. We'll gather in pre-season and that will be determined by the boss," said Burnett. "He will determine what's best for his development, but he's been outstanding. He's scored goals, he's made goals and he's been a real focal point of this group and I can't speak highly enough about Jamie."

Tyrese Hall caught the eye of Tottenham fans with a sparkling, confident 19-minute cameo against Newcastle in Melbourne, following on from that squad appearance against Manchester City, which itself came hot on the heels of a new five-dear deal with the club the previous week.

The 18-year-old was instrumental in the play-off win against Sunderland with his calm and composed display in the centre of the park and Burnett told football.london that he and the other academy coaches had been cautious with the prodigious midfield talent, only bringing him up to the U21s at the turn of the year.

We were careful with his development and when we felt it was the right time for him to step up from the U18s to the U21s. He was playing in the U18s and at times it was easy for him, or easy-ish for him, so we felt it was right for him to move up to the U21s," he said.

"He's a player that we really like. He moves so well, with and without the ball. He's got real ability. He can go past people. He glides past people. He's now started to add some goals and assists to his game, which is important.

"We remind him that he also has to do the other side when we haven't got the ball, which he's learning and he's grasping and he's wanting to do it. I think with all of these young players, as long as they keep working and striving to get better every day then they will all hopefully get an opportunity somewhere along the line."

With all the talk of the players, it's worth talking about the job Burnett has done. The former Dagenham & Redbridge manager joined Spurs' academy in 2017 and has played a part in developing so many players for careers in the first team or across the game.

Last season was a tough one for Burnett. football.london previously reported that former Spurs boss Antonio Conte would often use many of the U21s to play tactical roles in first team training sessions, sometimes as static opposition for his players, meaning that the academy side could lose a number of players at late notice from their own training sessions and sometimes on the mornings of matches.

That, coupled with injuries to key players, contributed to a difficult start to that season for Burnett's side and despite a strong run of form in the second half of the campaign, they finished in the relegation spots in Premier League 2 on the final day. However, fate intervened with a new format for a bigger version of the league and Tottenham were handed a reprieve.

They never looked back, going unbeaten for much of the season and only losing twice in the league in the end, finishing four points clear of the 26-team table and then battling through the play-offs to win that as well. Coupled with the development of players for the first team, it has been a year to remember for Burnett.

"I think certainly [it's up there]. To win the league and to win the knockout stages is a magnificent achievement for everyone. I think it's right up there but I'm more pleased with seeing the growth and development of these players. I know it's a bit cliched, but for me to see them develop and grow and grasp what we're doing, they've done that and that's what I'm pleased about," he said.
But I'm so happy. I'm so happy for everyone involved, the players, the staff, the supporters, everyone involved at the football club. Certainly there's no better feeling than winning. I'm not going to hide from that. That's a nice feeling."
 
USspur

USspur

Well-Known Member

Carey Bloedorn has joined National League South side Aveley on loan for the 2024/25 season.
The 18-year-old goalkeeper has progressed through our Academy system and signed his first professional contract with us earlier this year.
He has prior experience in non-league, playing matches for Southern League Division One Central club Berkhamsted during the 2022/23 season.
Last season, he was virtually ever-present for our Under-18s before missing the last few weeks of the season through injury.
 
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