Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino is determined to continue promoting from within, despite many of his Premier League rivals flexing their financial muscles as the transfer deadline looms.
Spurs have shelled out £28million for new players so far this summer, with Victor Wanyama joining from Southampton and Vincent Janssen arriving from AZ Alkmaar.
Having finished third in the Premier League last year, Tottenham will be hoping to run another close battle for the title – but so far they have been massively out-spent.
Between them the two Manchester clubs, United and City, have forked out in excess of £300million, while Liverpool – Spurs’ opponents on Saturday – have also been busy and fierce rivals Arsenal have deals lined up which could take their spending close to the £100million mark.
The likes of Harry Kane, Tom Carroll and Josh Onomah have come through the youth ranks into the first-team set-up in recent years and, w hile interest in Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha remains high, Pochettino is keen to keep up with his policy of blending new signings with young talent.
“Yes it is very important for us to continue,” he said when asked if he wanted young players to come through and keep the club’s identity in tact.
“Only we need time. There are a lot of examples and the best one, we are all agreed, was Barcelona – a lot of good players from the academy, and then are some of the best players in the world.
“It is a good example for us. Maybe it is very different as we have a different philosophy in the way that we work, and we create our own philosophy. That is very important, but we continue to believe in our young talent.
“As we bring young talent from the academy, you keep your identity. Tottenham is different to another club and it is for that we need to continue to bring players from the academy.
“Why not believe that one day they (academy players) are all in the first team and maybe we will get big success with them? This is our dream, always with some experienced players that can help the young ones. That is important.
“We have great potential in the academy. The club have unbelievable facilities and maybe in two years will be in the new stadium and all we have ahead is great times and we are all excited for the future here.”
Spurs have taken four points from their opening two league games and face a tough test against Jurgen Klopp’s Reds at White Hart Lane on Saturday lunchtime.
Pochettino’s side and Liverpool under Klopp have drawn many comparisons for their respective pressing games, but the Argentinian does not see them as the same tactics.
Asked about similarities between their approaches, Pochettino said: “I think in theory, yes, but they are a team that likes to play on the counter-attack.
“They are very comfortable playing deeper and running fast. You could see in the friendly game against Barcelona at Wembley, 4-0 for them, that they wait and when they recover the ball, players like (Adam) Lallana, (Divock) Origi, (Philippe) Coutinho, (Georginio) Wijnaldum, (Sadio) Mane – they are very fast.
“They like to play in this style. I think we are very different, but I don’t know. Maybe in the end we are maybe the same.”
PA Sport
