A new report has emerged and it has exposed a worrying trend of Jose Mourinho’s at Tottenham Hotspur this season.
Spurs have endured an indifferent season. Back in December things were rosy, with the north London outfit sat top of the Premier League but now in April, things have taken a turn for the worst.
They are out of the FA Cup, Europa League and their chances of making the top four appear all but over – the one thing going for them is the upcoming Carabao Cup final, though they’ll face the red-hot league leaders, Manchester City.
A lot of Spurs’ issues have come down to their defensive problems, perhaps a surprise statement considering they hold the fourth-best defensive record in the top-flight but having dropped a whopping 18 points from winning positions, their season could’ve been far, far better.
But now a study conducted by the CIES Football Observatory has highlighted another worry.
As of this month, the Lilywhites are just one of three Premier League teams that have failed to give a single minute of league action to a player aged 21 or younger.
Given their troubles throughout the campaign, it surely can do Spurs no harm if they took a step back and put one eye on the future.
By comparison, Wolves have given an astounding 16.2% of all their minutes to U21 players, even Man City are up there in fifth and they occupy the top spot, so clearly it can pay dividends to have just a little bit of faith in your up-and-coming prospects.
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Of course, we have seen Mourinho hand out such opportunities, but these have come in dead rubber encounters, such as the second-leg against Wolfsberger AC in the Europa League, where Spurs were already in possession of a three-goal advantage.
The likes of Alfie Devine, Dane Scarlett, and Oliver Skipp are hugely talented and impressive youngsters, who are all more than worthy of playing some minutes at the very top level.
After Brexit, and with Spurs’ likely upcoming homegrown registration battle next season, Mourinho must do more to map out a better plan for the club’s current crop of youngsters.
This will leave Daniel Levy teeming with frustration too, as he’s less likely to make a substantial profit on these players if they are not being exposed to senior football.
Young prospects like Scarlett have cost the club nothing to develop but if he lives up to his true potential, then Levy could easily make a substantial sale on him in the future – though, not if Mourinho keeps up this concerning trend.
He has a history of it too, letting the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah slip his grasp at Chelsea, so again, the Spurs chairman ought to be feeling a little anxious over this latest report.
AND in other news, £18m-rated “role model” wants Spurs move, Levy must now strike…