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Mauricio Pochettino says academy striker Kazaiah Sterling will be in the first-team squad next season.
Pochettino: "If you do not have opportunity to train every day with the first team, it is true that it is good to grow in another place.But here we try to provide the facility to train with the first team for any player who can cope with the pressure"
http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/foo...-better-than-a-loan-for-kazaiah-a3486946.html
Pochettino indicated strongly that the next player to join the fold would be Kazaiah Sterling, an 18-year-old striker who is highly regarded at the club.
Pochettino explained: “One example is Kazaiah Sterling. Next season he will be here and it means every day there is a young striker training with Harry Kane. There is no better teacher to learn from.
Where else would be send him? It would be a completely different philosophy. For players who do not have the chance to train every day with the first team, it is good to grow up in another place and come back.
“But here we try to provide the facility to train with the first team for any player who can cope with the pressure.”
http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/second-year-academy/kazaiah-sterling/
http://www.football.london/tottenham-hotspur-fc/players/exclusive-spurs-fa-youth-cup-12550653
EXCLUSIVE: Spurs' FA Youth Cup hero Kazaiah Sterling on being inspired by Kane and Aguero and trying to reach that standard
Tottenham Hotspur's FA Youth Cup match-winner Kazaiah Sterling believes that Harry Kane has set the standard that all the club's young strikers must strive for.
Kane embodies every academy product's dream. The Walthamstow-born forward worked his way through the age levels at Spurs, before a series of loan moves toughened him up and added nous to his game as he battled older, experienced defenders.
He returned to the club for the final time under Mauricio Pochettino and has not looked back. The 23-year-old England international is now one of Europe's most feared strikers.
Looking up at him with admiration aplenty is Sterling. The 18-year-old scored both goals in the U18s' 2-0 cup victory on Thursday night at Stevenage's Lamex Stadium to earn Spurs a place in the next round and a trip to Newcastle United.
They were both instinctive finishes, coming after bursts of speed and strength that proved he has the raw tools to plot his own path through the levels of the game.
Football is never that simple though and all academy products face years of hard work, sacrifice and application regardless of their talent in order to make their way through the year groups and sometimes even that's not enough to make that next step to the top level.
With Kane's example though, Sterling feels that he in particular has been given a big boost in belief.
"Harry Kane is the perfect inspiration. He's come through the academy as well. That's the standard I'm trying to hit," he told football.london.
"It's really good to be a part of the academy at the moment. You've got the first team doing really well and that bodes well for everyone."
It's not just Tottenham's star striker who Sterling studies though. The teenager admits there is another Premier League hitman he watches closely.
"I like Sergio Aguero especially," he said. "He's a smaller player but he still gets around the pitch a lot."
Sterling joined Spurs from Leyton Orient as a youngster and has represented England at U17 and U18 level.
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