Spurs Youngsters: Tottenham's New Young Core

On Wednesday night, Tottenham kicked off their pre-season with a 5-1 win over Scottish side Hearts, but the scoreline was not the focal point of the game itself.

Many prospects for Tottenham Hotspur played in this game, from academy graduates to new Postecoglou signings getting game time, it symbolised perhaps Spurs' importance in youth and building forward for the future.

The first half saw youngsters, such as Jamie Donley, a 19 year old midfielder from the Tottenham Hospur academy. As well as him, this was the debut of versatile midfielder Archie Gray, who signed from Leeds this summer at just 18 years old. Both men were used in defence for the first half of this match and were both rather productive. Donley won 60% of his duels and had four recoveries of possession. Gray completed both his long ball attempts as well as having three interceptions and three recoveries as he did not concede a goal in his time in defence.

The second half saw many more youngsters and showed the real potential of future attacking forces. One of these attacking forces was 16 year old academy prospect Mikey Moore. He grabbed himself a goal in this game and the crowd was heard chanting "He's one of our own" to him. As well as this, Lucas Bergvall had forward and attacking intent having eight passes into the final third and even an assist. As well as Mikey Moore, academy prospect forward Will Lankshear also scored a goal early in the second half.

The win and dominant performance by the youth could set a precedent that was made by Postecoglou when he joined the club last summer. Along with instilling an attacking philosophy to the club that had been missing since the departure of Pochettino, Postecoglou also had an interest in utilising the youth in his future plans for Tottenham Hotspur. This has been seen in his signings, such as Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray and Ash Phillips who were all 18-year-old standouts in their respective teams and leagues prior to their signings with Tottenham.

The problem that could happen for Tottenham is that these players will not be developed to starting week in week out and helping Tottenham to contest for titles for a number of years, which may mean that it will be a while before they assemble a quality side to properly compete for titles.

However, so long as these players stay, there is room for hope in years to come so long as the vision for Tottenham stays consistent.