Tottenham Hotspur have added another young talent to their academy.
The January transfer window is often an anti-climax for football fans, with Sky Sports News building the hype to unfathomable levels only to disappoint with a couple of desperate late deals and a few underwhelming ones.
Tottenham Hotspur fans will be as keen as most to see a few exciting new faces arrive at White Hart Lane midway through the campaign, but the North London club appear to be doing things a bit differently.
For the last three years, January has been the month in which Tottenham have moved not for ready-made stars, but for the next generation.
First there was Dele Alli, then Shilow Tracey and now 15-year-old Maximus Tainio has followed in the footsteps of his father Teemu to sign for Tottenham, so could we be seeing a clear technique from chairman Daniel Levy and manager Mauricio Pochettino?
That is, to sign first-team stars in the summer and to focus primarily on the academy in January?
It certainly looks that way, and given the lack of quality first-team players available midway through a campaign it is a smart way to operate.
Instead of bringing in someone else’s unwanted extras, Tottenham are sealing deals for the next generation and securing their own bright future as a result, and if they all follow in the footsteps of Alli, Spurs fans are in for a treat.
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