West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur are renowned for bringing through talented youngsters from their respective academies.
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic
Speaking to reporters at his pre-match press conference, Hammers boss Slaven Bilic has compared Spurs striker Harry Kane’s rise to the top to that of former West Ham star Rio Ferdinand, and praised the way in which Tottenham have handled their young talented players in general, as quoted by the Daily Star.
The Croatian moved to Upton Park as a player in 1996, at the same time that a 17-year-old Ferdinand was coming through the youth ranks at West Ham.
Bilic told reporters how West Ham dealt with the youngster’s meteoric rise perfectly, by sending him out on loan until he became strong and experienced enough to handle the ferocity of the Premier League, as quoted by the Daily Star:
“When I came here, they didn’t give Rio Ferdinand a chance, I was here from Germany and Rio only trained with us really. He played a few games, went to Bournemouth for a loan and came back strong. That’s basically what Spurs have done. They have that; it’s not philosophy, not a rule, but 50 games – that should tell you ‘Is he going to make it?’ That’s what happened with Harry Kane. He didn’t go straight from the academy to the first team. That’s the great principle.”
Tottenham’s Harry Kane
Kane has very much been a victim of his own success, and received heavy criticism for his performances for England at EURO 2016 over the summer.
The criticism he has received though seems to be very much unfair, for someone still so young.
With 52 goals in 89 league appearances for Spurs, his goalscoring record can be matched by few, and at the age of just 23, he still has room to improve, and if he does that, he will surely go on to become one of the all-time great Premier League strikers.
England’s Harry Kane
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