Pochettino wants to emulate Barcelona’s academy at Spurs

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The Argentine boss has targeted building an academy that can supply the Tottenham team with world class players.

Mauricio Pochettino has great faith in young players

Mauricio Pochettino has told Sky Sports that he wants to follow Barcelona’s example of producing world class talent from their academy at Spurs.

The Tottenham boss, speaking ahead of his side’s lunchtime clash with Liverpool, has emphasised that the club are still focused on bringing through young players like Harry Kane, despite interest in other stars like Crystal Palace’s Wilfred Zaha.

Spurs currently have Kane, Tom Carroll and Joshua Onoma on their books as players who have come right through from the club’s youth ranks, whilst others like Danny Rose, who joined from Leeds, and Kyle Walker, who joined from Sheffield United, have come from youth set-ups elsewhere but were brought in at a young age.

Academy produce: Harry Kane

And Pochettino has said that Spurs should not be shy of dreaming of a first team comprised entirely from youth products, and that Barcelona are the example the North London club should follow.

“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 some of the best players in the world.

“Why not believe that one day [the 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.”

FC Barcelona’s star studded squad is littered with academy products

Pochettino has a proven track record of working well with club academies, as his time at Southampton has shown.

The Tottenham manager previously put much faith in young Southampton starlets like James Ward-Prowse, Nathaniel Clyne and Luke Shaw, and many have now go on to represent England.

The Poch effect helped Luke Shaw earn a move to Manchester United

He has continued this at Spurs, backing Dele Alli, Harry Kane and Eric Dier to make the grade, and they since went on to represent England at the European Championships over the summer.

With Pochettino at the helm, Tottenham fans have good reason to believe that one day, Spurs could have an academy capable of producing talent in the same way as Spanish giants Barcelona.