When Tottenham Hotspur’s technical director Johan Lange sat down for a rare interview in February, he mainly spoke about the January transfer market.
It was Lange’s first window at Spurs after he joined them in November. He brought Rob Mackenzie and Frederik Leth with him from Aston Villa and they restructured the recruitment department. Mackenzie was appointed head of scouting and Leth became head of football insights and strategy. They pivoted to a data-led approach to transfers and January served as a trial run. During his interview, Lange discussed signing Radu Dragusin and Timo Werner before giving an insight into their long-term transfer policy.
“We want to be a destination for the best young talent out there,” he said. “That can be talent coming into our academy in the foundation phase or later being developed (when) coming through the academy.”
They have delivered on that ambition. In February, they signed Lucas Bergvall from Swedish side Djurgarden on a five-year contract for £8.5million ($11m). Bergvall turned down an offer from Barcelona in favour of Ange Postecoglou’s project.
This month, Spurs beat Brentford to the signature of defender Archie Gray from Leeds United for £30m. On Thursday, The Athletic reported they had agreed a deal to sign Gangwon’s Yang Min-hyuk. The winger will spend another six months with the South Korean club before joining the Spurs squad in January.
All three of these players are 18 and will hopefully be part of Tottenham’s first team for a long time — it is a bonus that Bergvall and Gray already look ready to contribute in Premier League games.
Spurs also agreed a deal last year with Croatian side Hajduk Split to sign Luka Vuskovic for around £12m. The centre-back is on loan in Belgium with Westerlo and will join Tottenham next summer after he turns 18. In August 2023, they signed Alejo Veliz from Rosario Central after he scored three times for hosts Argentina at the Under-20 World Cup.
Tottenham’s recruitment department is demonstrating in-depth knowledge of different regions, plucking highly rated players from South America, east Asia and across Europe. This trend predates Lange’s arrival, but there has been a renewed focus on it.
This time last year, Bergvall had played fewer than 20 times for Djurgarden in the Swedish top flight, yet Spurs identified his quality and he impressed in their 5-1 friendly victory over Hearts last week. The attacking midfielder looked dangerous on the ball in their 2-0 win over Queens Park Rangers, too, but was substituted after 25 minutes with what appeared to be a minor groin problem.
Gray has slotted straight in at Spurs (Mark Scates/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Yang became the youngest K League scorer in 11 years when he netted his first goal for Gangwon in March. He has 10 direct goal contributions (seven goals and three assists) in 24 appearances and scored twice in a 4-0 victory over Jeju United last week.
Gray won the Championship’s young player of the season award after excelling in several roles for Leeds. They signed Will Lankshear from Sheffield United in August 2022 just over 12 months after he had been released by Arsenal. The 19-year-old striker won the Premier League 2 player of the season award in 2023-24 after helping the under-21s win the title and is part of Postecoglou’s first-team squad on tour in Japan and South Korea.
In July 2023, Spurs spent £3m to sign centre-back Ashley Phillips from Blackburn Rovers. The England Under-19 international spent the second half of last season on loan with Plymouth Argyle and made 18 appearances in the second tier.
Tottenham have produced players internally, too, including 16-year-old winger Mikey Moore who became the youngest player to represent them in the Premier League when he came off the bench in their 2-0 defeat to Manchester City in May. Moore spearheads an exciting group that includes Alfie Devine, Dane Scarlett and Jamie Donley.
According to data from FBref, Tottenham’s average squad age of 25.2 was the fourth-youngest (weighted by minutes played) in the top flight last season. Just take a look at the minutes Destiny Udogie (2,398), Micky van de Ven (2,342) and Pape Matar Sarr (2,085) racked up. They were all aged 22 or under at the start of the campaign.
Spurs have become an attractive option for young players and Postecoglou’s faith in them will be a factor. It is beginning to feel like a throwback to Mauricio Pochettino’s era when he oversaw the development of Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Eric Dier and Harry Winks.
The biggest issue for Spurs is working out the best development pathway for each individual. Bergvall, Gray, Veliz and Yang are all at earlier stages of their careers than Van de Ven, Udogie and Sarr were a year ago. There is no point in hoarding talented players if you do not give them regular opportunities. They must fit the team’s style, too. Yang is a direct dribbler who is comfortable playing on either wing and it is easy to see how he could flourish under Postecoglou.
Lankshear, left, and Moore are two more teenagers who are taking their pre-season chances (Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images)
Moore, Lankshear and Devine’s impressive performance this month should translate into appearances in the Europa League and domestic cup competitions. Oliver Skipp, now 23, made 21 top-flight appearances in the season just gone, but the last academy graduates to cement themselves in the starting XI were Kane and Winks.
Other players will need to go out on loan for experience and finding the right club is never easy. Phillips was named Plymouth’s young player of the season, but Scarlett and Veliz failed to impress at Ipswich Town and Sevilla respectively.
It will be interesting to see how much the structural and personnel changes Lange has overseen will impact this strategy. The emerging talent department has been merged into the first-team recruitment setup. Andy Scoulding, the head of football strategy, now focuses more on loans and contracts for youth-team players.
In June, The Athletic reported Jack Chapman is set to be appointed as the head of academy recruitment. Chapman performed a similar role at Southampton for 12 months having moved from Swansea City. Southampton’s head of national recruitment, Simon Jones, has left and is expected to follow Chapman. Jones, who has nearly 30 years of experience in scouting and recruitment, looked after Southampton’s age groups between under-14s and under-19s.
Postecoglou is putting the building blocks in place for his second season in charge — will the talented generation of young players Tottenham now possess be central to his plans?
(Top photo: Yang and Bergvall are two signings for the future; Getty Images)
